An emotional memorial ceremony at the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Monday marking the one-year anniversary of the murders of Israeli Embassy staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky was filled with many tears, some anger and even a few laughs.

Milgrim’s father, Robert, told an assembled crowd of dignitaries, Jewish leaders and D.C. staffers that he was saddened not only by the death of his daughter but by the ways in which her death exemplifies the challenges facing every Jewish community.

“I’m sad, not only because of the tragic loss of our daughter, but I’m sad due to the state of affairs in which Jews live today,” Robert Milgrim said. “We now live in a world where every Jewish institution needs to be protected by an armed guard wearing a bulletproof vest.”

He said that, in the wake of Milgrim’s death, “we have learned the true meaning of what it is to be a Jew, and even though we are scattered across many lands, we are all part of the same family. This family has provided us with the support, with the support that we need now, and for that I say, thank you to everyone here.”

He said that those gathered should honor Milgrim’s work by “doubling down on full, unapologetic bridge-building.”

Milgrim’s mother, Nancy, recounted her daughter’s upbringing as a member of a small Jewish community in Kansas and her growing love for Israel through multiple visits to the country.

“Sarah believed in the work she was doing at the embassy. She believed in bringing peace to the land she loved, and most of all, she loved Yaron,” Nancy Milgrim said. She added that, in spite of the tragedy, she has learned so much about her daughter and connected with those in her life in a way she might not otherwise have the opportunity to.

“Out of this tragic loss, old friendships were renewed and new friendships have been born. Seeds have been planted for many ways to honor Sarah’s memory and continue the work she was doing,” she continued.

Lischinsky’s father, Daniel, thanked the Israeli Embassy for the opportunities it gave the couple “to develop, to show their abilities, to bring them to life. Thank you to each one of you, the friends of them, for your friendship for them, loving them.”

He also thanked Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter for preserving their memory, keeping a photo of the couple in a prominent spot in his office visible in weekly videos he makes.

“We are going through difficult times in Israel and difficult times around the world, and it’s so important, like Bob and Nancy said, to be together, to be a community,” Daniel Lischinsky said. “We feel your support, we feel your love.”

Two friends and colleagues of the couple, Catherine Szkop and Abbie Talmoud, who were present the night of the shooting and narrowly escaped being killed themselves, also addressed the gathered audience.

Szkop was visibly angry during portions of her remarks discussing the “human safari that unfolded” on the sidewalk of the Capital Jewish Museum. She emphasized that it could have happened to anyone present.

“Every single person in this room should think of themselves as passing through this horrific attack. Indeed, it could have happened to you. It could have been your parents, your children, your spouse, your siblings, your grandparents and your friends mourning your death,” she said. “Instead, it was Sarah and Yaron, and it could have very well been Abbie and me too.”

Szkop said that she refuses to “diminish the human nature of those who actively choose to commit these acts of violence” by calling them “idiots, animals or monsters,” which “gives them an excuse or perhaps, even more troubling, the permission to pursue such heinous acts.”

“From the back of Yad Vashem, at the end of the museum, you can see the cemetery where Yaron is buried, while simultaneously hearing from the tour guide how we have moved beyond the times of the Holocaust and the murderous antisemitism of the Nazis and their collaborators,” she continued. “I urge you to reflect on that. Are we really so sure?”

Talmoud offered some moments of levity, describing the start of Milgrim and Lischinsky’s relationship when they first met on the National Mall during the March for Israel in November 2023 and how Lischinsky maneuvered to get Milgrim’s number to send a photo of them together at the rally. She spoke of their lives together, including their shared love of Milgrim’s dog, Annie, and their first Valentine’s Day as a couple.

“Anti-Zionism denies the Jewish people’s right to exist in their homeland. It is antisemitism, and because of anti-Zionism, my friends were murdered on the streets of Washington, D.C., in the name of Palestine,” Talmoud said. “Society has deemed this acceptable and moral. We must change that.”

Leo Terrell, a senior Department of Justice official focused on antisemitism, also broke down in tears when discussing the shooting. He invited his chief of staff, Sarah Goldman, to join him on stage, who was also in tears.

“This memorial has a personal impact on me, because my chief of staff and I were at the crime scene, where we witnessed the aftermath of this murder,” Terrell said. “We are now more committed than ever to fight antisemitism. To the family members: I will never say no to you. Ever.”

Terrell, who said he’s grown close with Lischinsky’s parents in the past year, tightly embraced the parents of both former embassy staffers.

Noa Ginosar, minister counselor for Middle Eastern Affairs at the embassy and Lischinsky’s former supervisor, said that she’s struggled most in moments where she can “so clearly imagine the questions [Yaron] would be asking, and the excitement he would feel as he would try to make sense of it all, and where it could lead.”

“There are still moments when I want his advice, moments when I walk into the office and instinctively expect him to walk through the door, moments when I find myself wanting to sit down with him and talk through a complicated development in the Middle East, or hear about a hidden corner of Washington that only he seemed to know about,” she continued.

Sawsan Natour-Hassan, the minister for public diplomacy and Milgrim’s former supervisor, said that she is still grappling with the loss of the couple, and said she went back to her last WhatsApp messages with Milgrim.

“You were always one step ahead. You had a rare ability to deal with the most complex and difficult challenges, yet still make room for kindness, optimism, and soft diplomacy,” Natour-Hassan said of Milgrim. “More than anything, you gave people hope that tomorrow could be a better day. You were a bright spot in Israel’s darkest and most desolate things.”

Their final message, Natour-Hassan said, was a photo of Milgrim smiling at the AJC event, between Szkop and Talmoud.

Natour-Hassan, who is Druze, also compared Milgrim to another Sarah, a “revered female figure, a righteous Sarah who stands as a symbol of wisdom, faith, peacemaking and resilience” in the Druze religion.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar both addressed the gathering in prerecorded remarks. 

“In the way of blind hatred, they were not targeted as Sarah and Yaron,” Herzog said. “They were reduced to blank symbols, guilty by association, stripped of their individuality and humanity because of their connection to Israel and the Jewish people. Such is the nature of hatred, such is the culture of glorifying death, destruction, and antisemitism towards Israel.”

He called on everyone to follow their legacy of “peace, dialogue and humanity.”