No, a shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum wasn’t a false flag

After two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C., were fatally shot outside the Capital Jewish Museum on May 21, social media users said the incident is a "false flag" because of when and where it happened. But that’s wrong.

"So you’re telling me two Israeli diplomats got killed across the street from an FBI field office outside a Jewish museum that had *closed* 4 hours earlier," said a May 22 X post. "And one day after Israel fired at European diplomats and Europe was talking sanctions and you don’t think it’s a false flag?" 

Other X posts made similar speculations. 

The "false flag" phrase stems from the misuse of literal flags. Historically, a false flag operation referred to a military force or a ship flying another country's flag for deception purposes. 

Some confirmed false flag operations have occurred throughout history. But they have been outpaced in recent years by conspiracy theories that label real events as "false flags," or an attack that’s designed to look like it was perpetrated by one person or party, when in fact it was committed by someone else. 

Unfounded false flag claims often follow mass violence incidents, including the Israel-Hamas war, the 2022 Uvalde school shooting and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

Historians warn that social media rumors alleging that big news events are "false flags" should be viewed skeptically. Real false flag operations are logistically complex and tend to involve many people.

PolitiFact found no credible evidence to support the claim that the Israeli embassy employees’ shooting is a false flag. 

What we know about the shooting 

The X post said that the shooting, which happened on a Wednesday, is a "false flag" because the museum had closed four hours earlier. The museum usually closes at 5 p.m. on Wednesdays, except for the first Wednesday of each month, when it closes at 8 p.m. 

However, the American Jewish Committee hosted an event May 21 at the museum, scheduled to end at 9 p.m.

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Preliminary investigations say the shooting happened after 9 p.m. local time when the two victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were exiting an event at the Capital Jewish Museum, Pamela A. Smith, the Metropolitan Police Department’s police chief said at a May 21 press conference. 

Police identified the suspect as Elias Rodriguez, a 31-year-old man from Chicago, Illinois. The Justice Department charged him with the murder of foreign officials and other crimes.

Jeanine Pirro, interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said May 22 that the incident is being investigated as a hate crime and a terrorism crime. 

The Capital Jewish Museum is diagonally across the street from the FBI’s D.C. field office. FBI Director Kash Patel and the Israeli government have condemned the shooting.

There is no evidence that the shooting was a false flag. We rate this claim Pants on Fire.