WASHINGTON — The two Israeli embassy staffers who were shot to death allegedly by a Palestinian protestor outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, on Wednesday night have been identified as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim.
“Yaron and Sarah were our friends and colleagues. They were in the prime of their lives,” the Embassy of Israel in the United States posted on social media. “The entire embassy staff is heartbroken and devastated by their murder. No words can express the depth of our grief and horror at this devastating loss.”
The embassy shared a photo of the couple together that Lischinsky had posted on Twitter earlier in the month. It appeared to have been taken during an event at the embassy to mark Israel’s 77th Independence Day.
The couple both said they were working toward peace in the Middle East.
Lischinsky was a German immigrant to Israel who served in the Israeli army before studying international relations and diplomacy at multiple Israeli universities, according to his LinkedIn profile. He had worked at Israel’s embassy to the United States since September, 2022 and was currently a research assistant focusing on Middle East and North African affairs, according to the profile.
“I’m an ardent believer in the vision that was outlined in the Abraham Accords and believe that expanding the circle of peace with our Arab neighbors and pursuing regional cooperation is in the best interest of the State of Israel and the Middle East as a whole,” Lischinsky wrote on LinkedIn. “To this end, I advocate for interfaith dialogue and intercultural understanding.”
Lischinsky was a Christian whose support for Israel was entwined with his religious identity, according to his own social media posts and that of a friend after his death. (He said on his LinkedIn page that he made aliyah, or immigrated to Israel under the Law of Return, at 16; aliyah is open to Jews and the children and grandchildren of Jews who do not subscribe to religions other than Judaism.) “Israel is the only place in the ME where Christians can thrive,” he tweeted in 2021. “Not perfect, but livable (speaking as a Christian myself).”
Milgrim graduated from the University of Kansas in 2021 and earned two master’s degrees, in international affairs from American University and from the United Nations’ University for Peace, before beginning a role in the embassy’s Dept. of Public Diplomacy in 2023, according to her LinkedIn profile.
“My passion lies at the intersection of peacebuilding, religious engagement, and environmental work,” she wrote on LinkedIn, noting research that she had conducted research on behalf of a nonprofit, Tech2Peace, that trains Palestinians and Israelis to work together in the tech sector.
Milgrim grew up in the Kansas City suburbs, where her family has been affiliated with Reform synagogues, and was a teenager when a white supremacist shot and killed three people at Jewish institutions in that city. In her senior year of high school, she was active in responding after swastikas were painted at her high school. “I worry about going to my synagogue and now I have to worry about safety at my school and that shouldn’t be a thing,” she told a local news station at the time.
The couple was on the verge of becoming engaged and a proposal had been planned for next week in Jerusalem, Ambassador Yechiel Leiter said at a press conference after the shooting. “They were a beautiful couple,” he said.
“Words cannot begin to describe the heartbreak and sorrow. Just this morning, we were still laughing together by the coffee corner — and now, all that remains is a picture,” tweeted Tal Naim, the spokesperson for the embassy. “Instead of walking you down the aisle, we are walking with you to your graves. What an unbearable loss.”
Police are questioning a person of interest, Elias Rodriguez, who they believe was solely responsible. Rodriguez, 30, approached a group of people and fired shots, according to police. He then entered the museum, where he was detained. Once detained by police, Rodriguez chanted “Free, free Palestine,” Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a press conference Wednesday night.
The shooting is the latest fatal attack on a Jewish institution. The worst anti-Semitic attack in US history occurred in 2018, when a gunman killed 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue. The following year saw three more fatal attacks on a synagogue in California, a rabbi’s house in New York and a kosher supermarket in New Jersey.
Since then, Jewish institutions have bolstered their security. The Capital Jewish Museum had just gotten a security grant from Washington, DC this week.
“The fatal shooting that took place outside the event that took place at the Jewish Museum in Washington, DC is a depraved act of anti-Semitic terrorism,” said Israeli United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon in a statement. “Harming the Jewish community is crossing a red line. We are confident that the US authorities will take strong action against those responsible for this criminal act. Israel will continue to act resolutely to protect its citizens and representatives — everywhere in the world.”
The event was held by the American Jewish Committee, which had advertised a cocktail event for young Jewish professionals and diplomats on Wednesday. Its website said the location would be provided to those who registered, a practice that many Jewish groups have adopted at a time of high alert.
“We are devastated that an unspeakable act of violence took place outside the venue,” AJC CEO Ted Deutch said in a statement. “At this moment, as we await more information from the police about exactly what transpired, our attention and our hearts are solely with those who were harmed and their families.”
In a statement the Jewish Federations of North America said it was “horrified at the reported murder of two people outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC. Our hearts go out to the victims and to our colleagues at AJC, whose event was being held at the museum.”
