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.”

Ten months after his daughter, Israeli Embassy employee Sarah Milgrim, was shot dead alongside her boyfriend and colleague, Yaron Lischinsky, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, Bob Milgrim said he feels a “deeper connection to the Jewish community [than] we ever felt before.” 

On Tuesday evening, at the conclusion of the Anti-Defamation League’s Never is Now conference in Manhattan, Milgrim was joined in conversation with his wife, Nancy Milgrim, and CBS News reporter Jonah Kaplan. In June, Kaplan conducted the family’s first interview after Sarah was killed.

The support from the Jewish community since Sarah’s death, when she was shot by a gunman who allegedly shouted “Free Palestine” while leaving an event for young diplomats and Jewish professionals hosted by the American Jewish Committee last May, has been “totally overwhelming in a positive way,” said Bob Milgrim. 

The Milgrims spoke days after another Jewish community was rocked by an antisemitic attack last week, in which an assailant drove a truck filled with explosives into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., one of the largest Reform synagogues in the country, while 140 children were inside. Security guards prevented any casualties in the attempted terrorist attack. 

Two months earlier, an antisemitic arsonist heavily damaged Beth Israel Congregation, the only synagogue in Jackson, Miss.   

“It’s very easy to lose hope with what’s happening, especially with what happened at Temple Israel … and Mississippi,” said Milgrim. “There’s no end to it. But when you have hope you have to act. Even when you don’t have hope, you have to act.” 

Addressing high school and college students in the audience, Milgrim said Sarah was one of only about 15 Jewish students at the high school she attended in Kansas. Drawing on Sarah’s involvement in the Jewish student union while in high school, he said, “you’ve got to be out there and let them know we’re no different from anybody else and we all want to coexist in peace.” 

Milgrim reflected on an incident during Sarah’s senior year when swastikas were painted on the school building. When interviewed by a TV reporter, who asked her what the punishment for the perpetrator should be, Sarah said they “should be told to be more tolerant and nicer.” 

“She didn’t want revenge, she saw the good in all people,” said Milgrim. 

“Sarah was very proud to be Jewish and she didn’t shy away from letting people know she was Jewish,” added Nancy Milgrim. “I encourage you all to try to feel proud of who you are and let people know all the good of being Jewish.”

As the Milgrims continue to say the mourner’s prayer of Kaddish every morning, when the weather permits, while watching the sun rise at a park in their neighborhood —- alongside Sarah’s dog, Andy, and a virtual minyan —- Bob Milgrim said he “knows that we have family everywhere.” 

“It’s more than a connection, it’s family. And that’s a beautiful experience that’s helped us get through this.”

Sarah’s work, which included a stint at Teach2Peace, an organization dedicated to building peace between Palestinians and Israelis, should inspire others “to do the things she was doing, reaching out to others who are not like you, inviting the stranger into your home, learning about other cultures and sharing your Jewish culture with them,” said Nancy. “If you can choose to do one thing to make the world a better place, you will be doing something to honor Sarah.”  

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will bring Hanan Lischinsky, the brother of an Israeli Embassy staffer shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., last May, as his guest to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday evening.

Lischinsky is the brother of Yaron Lischinsky, who was killed alongside Sarah Milgrim, his girlfriend and a fellow embassy staffer, while exiting a museum event for young diplomats and Jewish professionals hosted by the American Jewish Committee; the two were gunned down by a suspect seen on video shouting “free Palestine” and “I did it for Gaza” after the attack.

Lischinsky and Milgrim met while working at the embassy.  Lischinsky’s family said he had planned to propose to Milgrim on an upcoming trip to Jerusalem, which was scheduled for the month after their murders. 

“On May 21, 2025, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were murdered on the streets of Washington, D.C. These two young diplomats of the Israeli Embassy, devoted to the cause of peace and to one another, had their futures stolen in a violent act of antisemitism,” Johnson said in a statement. 

“Yaron’s brother, Hanan Lischinsky, has shown remarkable courage in shedding light on the extremism that took his brother’s life,” the statement continued. “I am honored to invite him as my guest for President Trump’s State of the Union address.”

Lischinsky and Milgrim’s murders were met with widespread calls from pro-Israel voices in the U.S. for critics of Israel to call out and condemn antisemitism within the anti-Israel movement. A coalition of 42 Jewish organizations described the murders in a statement at the time as “the direct consequence of rising antisemitic incitement in places such as college campuses, city council meetings, and social media that has normalized hate and emboldened those who wish to do harm.”

The alleged shooter, Elias Rodriguez, was charged in late May with two counts of first-degree murder, the murder of foreign officials, causing death with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a violent crime. The Department of Justice went on to charge Rodriguez, a 31-year-old Chicago native, with nine additional counts, including federal hate crimes charges, in August. Prosecutors are still considering whether to pursue the death penalty.

Good Monday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we interview former Rep. Steve Israel about his new spy thriller and report on Northwestern University’s $75 million settlement with the Trump administration. We talk to the parents of Yaron Lischinsky about the slain Israeli Embassy staffer’s life and legacy, and cover recent victories for Irish Jews and Israel supporters in the face of an effort to remove the name of Chaim Herzog from a Dublin park, as well as the shelving of a bill to boycott Israeli products made in the West Bank. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Cory Booker, Segev Kalfon and Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve. Have a tip? Email us here.

What We’re Watching

• White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are traveling to Moscow today ahead of their meeting tomorrow with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Witkoff and Kushner, joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, met yesterday in Miami with senior aides to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
• Pope Leo XIV is in Lebanon this week as part of his first international trip since becoming pontiff. He first traveled to Turkey last week, where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as the head of the country’s Jewish community.
• Israel Defense Tech Week kicked off this morning at Tel Aviv University. Senior Pentagon official Mike Dodd; Adm. (ret.) Mike Rogers, a former director of the National Security Agency; and Sequoia Capital’s Shaun Maguire are among the two-day conference’s featured speakers.

What You Should Know

A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV

Ireland has long been competing for the title of most anti-Israel country in the West, and in recent years, the local Jewish community has expressed fears that the country has become systemically antisemitic. Calls to boycott Israel have permeated the political mainstream; the Emerald Isle’s under 3,000 Jews face hostility in schools and workplaces, and physical harassment has increased in recent years. Pleas to the former president not to politicize International Holocaust Memorial Day by making it another occasion to accuse Israel of war crimes fell on deaf ears; Ireland has since elected a president who is even more stridently opposed to the Jewish state.

Yet, Irish Jews and supporters of Israel notched two victories on Sunday.

Ireland is pulling its “Occupied Territories Bill” to boycott Israeli products from the West Bank in light of a “changed political climate” as a result of the ceasefire in Gaza, the Irish Mail on Sunday reported. The legislation faced legal challenges due to its violation of European Union trade rules, and, as several members of Congress pointed out, could run afoul of U.S. states’ laws penalizing those who boycott Israel and damage relations between Washington and Dublin. 

In addition, following an uproar started by the local Jewish community that went global, leading Israel’s leadership and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to sound the alarm, pressuring Ireland’s government, a proposal to remove sixth Israeli President Chaim Herzog’s name from a public park and replace it with a name related to Palestinians was taken off of Dublin City Council’s agenda.

Herzog, father of current Israeli President Isaac Herzog, was born in Belfast and grew up in Dublin. He was Israeli ambassador to the U.N. — famously tearing up its “Zionism is racism” resolution — before serving as president in 1983-1993. The park in Dublin was named after Herzog in 1995, to coincide with the 3,000th anniversary of Jerusalem’s establishment. It is adjacent to Ireland’s only Jewish school and close to major Orthodox and Progressive synagogues.

The current President Herzog, his brother, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Graham and others spoke out, saying “Ireland, once home to a proud, thriving Jewish community, has become the scene of raging antisemitism.”

Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin chimed in soon after, expressing concern that the name change would be seen as antisemitic, and hours later, it was no longer on Dublin City Council’s agenda.

Read the rest of What You Should Know here.

PARDON PLEA

Netanyahu asks Herzog for pardon amid ongoing corruption trial

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday asked President Isaac Herzog to pardon him, six years after Netanyahu was indicted for fraud, breach of trust and bribery and as his yearslong trial continues to play out in Israeli court, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. Among the reasons Netanyahu cited for requesting the pardon, in a concurrent video statement, was “the requests from President Trump to the president of Israel, so I can work together with him as quickly as possible to promote the necessary shared interests between the U.S. and Israel in a window of opportunity that I doubt will return.”

Next steps: Netanyahu’s attorney, Amit Hadad, sent Herzog’s office a 111-page file of details of the trial, including a letter from the prime minister. Herzog’s office passed Netanyahu’s request to the Justice Ministry’s Pardons Department, which will send its opinions to the legal advisor of the Office of the President, who will then add her opinion before sending them to Herzog. A source in Herzog’s office told JI that the process may take weeks and the president will rely heavily on the opinions he receives.

Read the full story here.

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BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS

Six months after Yaron Lischinsky’s murder, his parents reflect on Israeli Embassy staffer’s life and legacy

Six months after the death of their son, Yaron Lischinsky, and his girlfriend, Sarah Milgrim — both Israeli Embassy employees — in a shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum, Daniel and Ruth Lischinsky visited Washington last week, meeting with senior administration officials and visiting the sites where their son lived, worked and, ultimately, died. Speaking to Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod during their time in the U.S. capital, the pair reflected on their son’s life and legacy.

A son’s legacy: “He was a peacemaker. He tried [to make] people understand one [another], talking with the other and not fighting. He was a big fan of the Abraham Accords and he was a peacemaker. He knew that through diplomacy he can reach and he can make achievements,” Daniel Lischinsky said. Ruth Lischinsky said she’s been struck by the number of people that knew her son in Washington.

Read the full interview here.

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CAMPUS BEAT

Jewish leaders cautiously optimistic over Northwestern deal with Trump administration

Jewish leaders with ties to Northwestern University are cautiously celebrating a $75 million settlement reached on Friday with the Trump administration to restore federal funding that was frozen earlier this year over allegations that administrators failed to address campus antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

What it means: Under the agreement — which will restore at least $790 million in funding that was frozen in April — the Illinois private university agreed to end its commitment to the Deering Meadow agreement, a controversial pact made with anti-Israel encampment participants in the spring of 2024. The agreement allowed students to protest the war in Gaza until the end of the school year so long as tents were removed and encouraged employers not to rescind job offers for student protesters. The document also allowed students to weigh in on university investments — a major concession for students who had demanded the university divest from Israel. The school’s settlement with the Department of Justice also stipulates that Northwestern commit to “clear policies and procedures” around demonstrations, protests and other “expressive activities” and implement mandatory antisemitism training for all students, faculty and staff. 

Read the full story here. 

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BOOKSHELF

Former Rep. Steve Israel pens Einstein-focused spy thriller set against backdrop of U.S. pro-Nazi movement

In his latest novel, former Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) takes readers through a tense spy thriller, with famed physicist Albert Einstein at its center, set against the backdrop of the pro-Nazi movement in America in 1939, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. 

Political moment: Published last week, The Einstein Conspiracy is a fictionalized account of true events, in which the Nazis targeted Albert Einstein to prevent him from helping the United States build an atomic bomb. “The backdrop is the chilling and widespread pro-Nazi movement across America in 1939,” Israel explained to JI. “There was a [Nazi] rally at Madison Square Garden in February 1939 that attracted 20,000 people. On Long Island is a community that used to be known as Camp Siegfried, where the streets were named after Adolf Hitler, Goebbels and Goering. So I’m trying in the book to remind Americans of how close we could have come to staying out of World War II.”

Read the full story here.

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Worthy Reads

Penny Wise: In The Washington Post, philanthropist and Kind founder Daniel Lubetzky considers the overlap in Jewish and American values as he reflects on the rise in global antisemitism. “My maternal grandfather — who fled pogroms in Lithuania and landed on the shores of northern Mexico, where he became a successful cattle rancher — taught his grandchildren about humility and resourcefulness. He used to say, in Spanish, ‘A man who is too arrogant to pick up a penny is not worth a penny.’ The idea harbored by some that picking up a penny is beneath them, and is disgusting in others, isn’t just bad for Jews. Its manifestation today seems to reflect a cultural crisis marked by economic anxiety, frustration and a growing rejection of the very values that have long been the foundation of the American Dream. The crisis has been marked by the emergence of a victim-oppressor mindset; those who feel left behind often believe that they have no agency, and it is all too easy to deflect responsibility onto convenient scapegoats — including those perennial targets, the Jews.” [WashPost]

Qatar Ready For Its Close-up: Variety’s Nick Vivarelli looks at the effort by Qatar to break into Hollywood amid the backdrop of last week’s Doha Film Festival, which kicked off featuring “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” about a Palestinian girl killed in Gaza. “‘We are building the foundations of a world class [film and TV] ecosystem with new infrastructure, production facilities and post-production capabilities supported by vast technology, and data analytics,’ said Hassan Al Thawadi, the Qatari lawyer who oversaw the 2022 World Cup. He is now leading The Qatar Film Committee, an official body that is part of the Media City Qatar hub tasked with driving growth of the country’s entertainment industry. But Al Thawadi made it clear that Hollywood should not be expecting any handouts from Qatar. ‘This agreement is about more than financing films,’ he said, after announcing the relatively modest pact with Neon that involves six to 10 feature films and shorts over a four-year period that Neon will co-finance and distribute. ‘It’s about creating a new platform for Arabic and regional storytelling, ensuring that stories from Qatar and the wider Arab world are seen, celebrated, and shared globally.’” [Variety]

Beyond Denominations: In Tablet, Rabbi Nolan Lebovitz argues that the post-Oct. 7 landscape provides an opportunity for the American Jewish community to find new ways of collaboration and partnership relating to Israel that go beyond the confines of denominations. “We should drop the focus on denominational labels and instead be willing to partner with anyone — Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and everything in-between — who is a Zionist. Now that the crisis of war is behind us, how do we together foster a new, inspiring Jewish identity of Oct. 8? We can invite rabbis from other regions and other denominations into our communities to speak and to teach to build bonds. We can also work together and pool resources in programming efforts. More communities can work together to share the messages of Zionist thinkers and authors, artists and musicians. Pooling our resources and ideas can help bridge the American Jewish connection with our Israeli brothers and sisters.” [Tablet]

Word on the Street

Rep. Don Davis (D-NC), a pro-Israel stalwart among House Democrats, will run for reelection in his redrawn 1st Congressional District, which under the new state congressional map was won by President Donald Trump by 11 points…

A federal judge ordered the University of Florida’s law school to reinstate a student who had authored a paper arguing that “Jews must be abolished by any means necessary”…

The New York Times interviews former Israeli hostage Segev Kalfon about the more than two years he spent in Hamas captivity in Gaza…

Actor Guy Pearce apologized for sharing antisemitic social media posts, including content that blamed Israel for the Sept. 11 attacks as well as the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk…

A tribunal affiliated with the U.K.’s National Health Service suspended for 15 months a British-Palestinian doctor who defended Hamas terrorists as “oppressed resistance fighters” and called Israelis “worse than Nazis”…

U.K. police arrested a man in connection with the deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur in which two congregants were killed…

A Nazi soldier photographed executing a Jewish man in the Ukrainian town of Vinnitsa was identified using artificial intelligence decades after the image, whose subjects were unknown, gained notoriety during the trial of Adolf Eichmann…

Wizz Air CEO Jozsef Varadi said the low-cost European carrier plans to open a hub in Israel in early 2026…

Israeli drone manufacturer Heven AeroTech raised $100 million in a round of funding, led by IonQ, that values the company at more than $1 billion…

Iran said it would boycott the 2026 World Cup draw this week in Washington after the U.S. denied visas to members of the soccer team’s delegation…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who met with his Turkish counterpart in Tehran over the weekend, announced a $1.6 billion joint project with Ankara to build a rail link connecting Asia and Europe…

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized an Eswatini-flagged ship carrying oil and more than a dozen crew members as it transited through the Persian Gulf; the incident occurred less than a month after the IRGC seized a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel that originated in the United Arab Emirates… 

The Wall Street Journal reports on Iran’s efforts to funnel money to Hezbollah through Dubai-based companies…

In The New York Times’ “Modern Love” column, Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek reflects on his own marriage and the vows and promises made in his ketubah…

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Alexis Lewis, who is Jewish, married in a ceremony co-officiated by Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz, a longtime friend of Booker, in Washington over the weekend…

Tony Award-winning playwright Tom Stoppard, whose “Leopoldstadt” reflected his own life as an assimilated Englishman who did not learn of his family ties to the Holocaust until adulthood, died at 88… Israeli Maj. Gen. (res.) Dan Tolkowsky, who led the Israeli Air Force from 1953-1958 before going on to found the country’s first VC, died at 104… Tekserve co-founder David Lerner died at 72… Architect Robert A.M. Stern, who gained global acclaim for Manhattan’s 15 Central Park West, died at 86… Psychologist Paul Ekman, whose pioneering work on facial recognition was used by Hollywood animators and the FBI alike, died at 91…

Pic of the Day

Brig. Gen. (res.) Dr. Daniel Gold, head of the Israel Ministry of Defense Directorate of Defense Research & Development, spoke this morning at the International DefenseTech Summit at Tel Aviv University. 

Birthdays

Singer, actress, comedian and author, Bette Midler turns 80… 

Former CEO of Marvel Comics and chairman until 2023 of Disney’s Marvel Entertainment, Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter turns 83… Former EVP of Stuart Weitzman, Jane Weitzman… NYC-based real estate mogul, he owned the New York Post, served as chair of NYC’s MTA and is a noted car collector, Peter Kalikow turns 83… Executive producer of over 200 shows with more than 15,000 hours of television over a lengthy career, David E. Salzman turns 82… Comedian, actor and voice actor best known for his starring role in the animated sitcom “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist,” Jonathan Katz turns 79… Former director of Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, he is now the director of Yashrut, Rabbi Daniel Landes turns 75… Former president of the American Jewish Committee and a board member at Israel Policy Forum, John M. Shapiro… British playwright, director and scriptwriter who has won many awards for his work on the stage, film and television, Stephen Poliakoff turns 73… U.S. senator (R-FL), Rick Scott turns 73… Newly appointed rabbi at Congregation Beth El of Windsor, Ontario, Rabbi Gordon Fuller… Former chair of the board of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, Isaac “Ike” Fisher turns 69… U.S. District Court judge in Oregon, Judge Michael H. Simon turns 69… U.S. senator (D-MI), Gary Peters turns 67… CEO of Oracle Corporation until a few months ago, now vice chair of the board, she also joined the board of the recently merged Paramount Skydance, Safra A. Catz turns 64… Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Cambridge, Raymond E. Goldstein turns 64… Pittsburgh-based entrepreneur, David Seldin… CEO at My Pest Pros in Fairfax County (Virginia), Brett Lieberman… Emmy Award-winning stand-up comedian, actress, producer and writer, Sarah Silverman turns 55… Rabbi of Shaarei Tefillah Congregation in Toronto, Rafi Lipner turns 52… Editorial lead in policy communications on the global affairs team at OpenAI, he is the author of a book on military suicides, Yochi J. Dreazen turns 49… Emmy and Peabody Award-winning director, comedian, producer, writer and actor, Akiva Schaffer turns 48… Marketing and communications executive, Natalie Ravitz… Editor-in-chief at Jewish Insider, Josh Kraushaar… Writer and television producer, including for NBC’s primetime series “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” Evan Daniel Susser turns 40… English teacher at Jerusalem’s Inbar School, the first secular, girls-only middle-high school in Israel, Shira Sacks… Senior advisor to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, David Milstein… Mexican musician influenced by Sephardic brass and klezmer styles, known by his mononym “Sotelúm,” Jorge Sotelo turns 36… Becky Weissman…

Six months after the death of their son, Yaron Lischinsky, and his girlfriend, Sarah Milgrim, in a shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum, Daniel and Ruth Lischinsky visited Washington last week to meet with senior administration officials and visit the sites where their son — who, with Milgrim, worked at the Israeli Embassy — lived, worked and, ultimately, died.

Speaking to Jewish Insider during their time in the U.S. capital, the pair reflected on their son’s life and legacy.

“In the beginning it was a big shock for all of us because it was so unexpected — [it was] like an earthquake,” Ruth Lischinsky said of his killing. “Now, we are feeling much more — we are missing him much more. He’s not coming back home. He’s not calling, no message[s], no nothing. So it’s really hard.”

At first, Daniel Lischinsky said, they equated the experience to being on drugs. “We didn’t know where we are and somebody removed the floor beneath us.” But he said they were grateful for the support of their friends, family and community as they grappled with their loss.

He said that his son was a “very sweet boy” and “very gentle, very artistic, very sensible all the time”; he was passionate about soccer as a child and had visions of being a professional player.

“All the time [he was] looking [out] for other people. What are their needs, how are they feeling, approaching the people that are lonely or on the side when you are in big groups,” Daniel Lischinsky continued. “He was a peacemaker. He tried [to make] people understand one [another], talking with the other and not fighting. He was a big fan of the Abraham Accords and he was a peacemaker. He knew that through diplomacy he can reach and he can make achievements.”

It was that passion, his mother said, that led him to pursue diplomatic service and ultimately land in the Israeli Embassy in Washington. She said she’s been struck by the number of people that knew her son in the nation’s capital.

“I have so many opportunities reaching out to different communities,” she said. “He was in contact with so many people. We were really blown away when we realized it now, that so many people knew him and he had contact with them.”

Lischinsky “loved” his time in Washington and ended up “in the right place,” Daniel Lischinsky said.

During their time in Washington, the Lischinskys visited the site where their son and Milgrim were killed, outside the Capital Jewish Museum.

“Seeing the place where they [were] killed was the hardest part, of course,” Ruth Lischinsky said. “But we wanted to go there to somehow connect.”

They said they regretted that they did not have the opportunity to meet Milgrim in person before her death. The young couple had arranged to visit Lischinsky’s parents in Israel days after they were killed, and Lischinsky was planning to propose.

The Lischinskys traveled to Washington both to meet with administration officials involved in fighting antisemitism as well as to meet with Lischinsky and Milgrim’s colleagues at the embassy, and see where the couple had worked together. 

Ruth Lischinsky said she’d been impressed by the dedication to fighting antisemitism expressed by the officials they met with — “they are really serious about it.” 

Daniel Lischinsky said that they came to offer any help they can, but also told the officials that “they need to be stronger, much more strong against antisemitism, and against every crazy one that can be suspicious, like this murderer that took the life of our children. We told them that we don’t want to hear anymore about something like this, not here in Washington, D.C., and not in the States.”

Ruth Lischinsky added that the U.S. media needs to do a better job of accurately reporting what is happening in Israel. Daniel Lischinsky said that inaccurate reporting encourages violent attacks such as the one that killed Lischinsky and Milgrim.

The couple also called for better education, starting early in schools, and for stronger law enforcement response to suspicious individuals like Elias Rodriguez, who has been indicted on murder charges for the shooting.

The Lischinskys, referencing an issue that Milgrim’s parents have also spoken about publicly, expressed shock that protesters were allowed to gather for months directly outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, making so much noise that they were disrupting work inside the building.

The pair have also been traveling to Jewish communities around the world, recently visiting the site of a bombing that targeted the AMIA Jewish community center in Argentina and the Jewish community in Los Angeles.

“We, all the Jewish people, the people in Israel, are praying for you, and you are helping us and praying for us, the Israelis and the people in Israel,” Daniel Lischinsky said. “We are very much encouraged by the support and the love of the Jewish community here in the U.S. It’s really a balsam for our hearts.”

WASHINGTON — As visitors entered the Capital Jewish Museum on Thursday morning, open for the first time after an antisemitic attack killed two Israeli Embassy staffers steps from its doors last week, they walked past a makeshift memorial to Sarah Lynn Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky before security guards wanded them down and checked their bags. 

The museum might be reopening, but its staff — and the broader Washington Jewish community — now feel a heaviness that did not exist last week, when the museum was on the cusp of unveiling a major new exhibit about LGBTQ Jews ahead of the World Pride Festival next month. The presence of police officers and heightened security precautions in the newly reopened space were stark reminders of the violence perpetrated by a radicalized gunman who said he killed the two young people “for Gaza.” 

A brief ceremony marking the museum’s reopening began with a cantor leading the crowd in singing songs for peace. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser pledged to continue to support the Jewish community and called on all Washingtonians to do the same.

“It is not up to the Jewish community to say, ‘Support us.’ It is up to all of us to denounce antisemitism in all forms,” Bowser told the several dozen people at the event. 

Bowser, who was instrumental in the creation of the museum, which opened in 2023, urged people in the local community to visit.

“One of my messages to our community here in D.C. is for people of all faiths to keep showing up for the Jewish community and to keep showing up for the Capital Jewish Museum,” she continued. “Spaces like this that teach us history, that allow us to connect, inspire, reflect people coming together, of all backgrounds, faiths, ages, coming from different places in the world and different places in the city, can talk about important ideas and ways that we move together for a better collective future.”

A group of local faith leaders — a rabbi, an imam and two ministers — addressed the crowd, discussing their faiths’ teachings against violence and reflecting on the legacy of Lischinsky and Milgrim, who were killed as they left an American Jewish Committee event for young diplomats. Throughout the ceremony, speakers said the way to fight such hate is with understanding, built at institutions like the Capital Jewish Museum. 

“This reopening is exactly what our city, our country and our world needs. To keep telling our stories, who we are as a people, to have us be known, what our values are, what we are to the city, what we contribute and the intricacies of what make us who we are — not only so that we don’t shrink from fear, but also because it is the path to better understanding each other,” said Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, senior rabbi at Washington’s Adas Israel Congregation. 

Imam Talib Shareef, president and imam of Masjid Muhammad, described the reopening of the museum as an “invitation to embrace our shared, original identity as fruits of the first human, Adam, from which came the many wonderful, beautiful, diverse expressions of human life that have contributed to the strength and unity of our nation.” 

To close the event, the museum’s executive director, Beatrice Gurwitz, took to the podium, visibly shaken. 

“Last week’s antisemitic attack cannot be our last chapter,” Gurwitz said. “So we reopen today, and we dedicate ourselves to honor Yaron and Sarah and their commitment to repairing the world and building bridges, and we take strength in all of you as we go forward in fulfilling that mission.” 

Attendees finished the event by milling about the museum, including its newest exhibit, “LGBTJews in the Federal City,” which tells the story of Washington’s queer Jewish community. Items on display reflected the community’s struggle for inclusion — within the broader Jewish community, and also within the federal government, where workers were penalized for being gay during much of the 20th century. 

One Washington Post newspaper clipping from 1979, displayed in the exhibit, reported on the formation of Bet Mishpachah, “a synagogue for homosexuals.” The synagogue’s decision to participate in the article was described as a risk — putting its leaders at personal and professional peril. 

More than four decades later, Joshua Maxey, executive director of Bet Mishpachah, delivered remarks to the crowd assembled at the museum on Thursday morning. He described Milgrim as a “passionate advocate” who “made it her mission to ensure that LGBTQ voices were heard and celebrated within our local Jewish community.”

“She made people feel seen, valued and embraced,” Maxey continued. “She approached her work not just as a job, but as a calling. She was a peace broker in the truest sense, someone who lived out our values, our Jewish values of tikkun olam, or repairing the world.”

Vice President JD Vance visited the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Tuesday to pay his respects following last Wednesday’s killing of two staffers outside the Capital Jewish Museum in the nation’s capital. 

Vance was seen in photos posted on X by Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter signing a condolence book at the embassy honoring the memories of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, the two staffers killed in the May 21 attack following a museum event for young diplomats and Jewish professionals hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

“Thank you @VP Vance for coming to the Embassy to honor our dear colleagues and friends, Sarah and Yaron. The care and compassion you and the Trump administration have shown in the wake of this murderous attack are testaments to the enduring friendship between our two countries and peoples, and our mutual battle against terrorism,” Leiter wrote on the social media platform. 

Leiter said at a press conference immediately following the shooting that Lischinsky and Milgrim met while working at the embassy and that Lischinsky planned to propose on an upcoming trip to Jerusalem. 

The alleged shooter, Elias Rodriguez, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, the murder of foreign officials, causing death with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a violent crime. The interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, said last week that the 31-year-old Chicago native, who was seen on video shouting “free Palestine” and “I did it for Gaza” after the attack, is eligible for the death penalty. 

A Vance spokesperson did not respond to Jewish Insider’s request for comment on the visit, though the vice president wrote on X the morning after the shooting that, “My heart breaks for Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who were murdered last night at the Capital Jewish Museum.”

“Antisemitic violence has no place in the United States. We’re praying for their families and all of our friends at the Israeli Embassy, where the two victims worked,” Vance said at the time.

The Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum in Washington will reopen on Thursday, eight days after the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy staff members outside of the museum. 

The building’s reopening will feature a program to honor the memories of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, who were killed on May 21 while leaving an event at the museum for young diplomats and Jewish professionals hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

Speakers at the reopening program will include the museum’s leadership, Executive Director Beatrice Gurwitz and Board Chair Chris Wolf, local elected officials including Mayor Muriel Bowser and local clergy. 

“We will gather as a community to remember Yaron and Sarah as our thoughts remain with their loved ones,” Gurwitz said in a statement. “This tragedy will not keep us from telling the story of the greater Washington region’s Jewish history for visitors from around the world.” 

Lischinsky and Milgrim met while working at the embassy. Lischinsky recently purchased an engagement ring, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said following the shooting, and he planned to propose on an upcoming trip to Jerusalem. 

The alleged shooter, Elias Rodriguez, a 31-year-old man from Chicago, entered the building after carrying out the shooting and shouted “free Palestine” and “I did it for Gaza,” per an eyewitness. He has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, the murder of foreign officials, causing death with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a violent crime. He is eligible for the death penalty, according to Jeanine Pirro, the interim U.S. attorney in Washington. 

The murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim is a reminder “of the dreams that terrorism seeks to destroy every single day,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Monday, standing alongside Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar at a memorial event held in Jerusalem for the young Israeli Embassy staffers who were killed last week in a terror attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington.

“Today, we stand together with profound grief, and our hearts are heavy with the loss of these two radiant souls that we will no longer have with us,” Noem said. “In this moment of sorrow, we also ask that you would gather with us to honor their light and the unbreakable spirit of the Israeli and the American people,” Noem continued. 

Lischinsky, Noem said, “was known for his infectious smile and his unwavering commitment to peace and the vision of the Abraham Accords.” 

“Friends and family shared of Sarah that she glowed with warmth and compassion, dedicating her life to fostering peace and understanding,” Noem said, mentioning ​Milgrim’s work for the Israeli peace-building nonprofit Tech2Peace and her career in public diplomacy. “Their love for each other, a bond that was so strong that Yaron had already chosen a ring to propose to Sarah here in Jerusalem reminds us of the dreams that terrorism seeks to destroy every single day — but we will not let hatred have the final word.” 

“Sarah and Yaron’s lives are a testament to the power of love and service,” Noem said. “They stood for something that was much larger than themselves, and their memory calls us to do the same. They have lived a life of significance that has forever changed us. Together they embody the very best of Israel: courageous, hopeful and dedicated to peace.” 

Sa’ar thanked Noem for her visit to Israel, which he said, “shows solidarity and demonstrates the close relations between our people.” He also thanked the U.S. government for the investigation into the murder of Lischinsky and Milgrim.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee also spoke at the event, held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters, and said that the memories of Lischinsky and Milgrim “will not be taken from any of us, and we should always be mindful that there are people who pay an incredible price to simply be Israelis and Jews.” 

“And it’s why the United States must always stand, and it’s why it’s so very important that we welcome the secretary here to the State of Israel as she comes to offer in person an extraordinary sense — not just of condolences — but also a sense of confidence that the relationship between our nations will never waver, or will it ever falter.”

The remarks by both the American and Israeli officials emphasizing the importance of the strong bonds between the U.S. and Israel come amid recent reports about faltering ties, especially during President Donald Trump’s recent visit to the Middle East, which excluded Israel, and amid the Trump administration’s ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Noem arrived in Israel on Sunday evening when Jerusalem Day began, marking the city’s reunification in the 1967 Six-Day War, which made her the first U.S. cabinet secretary to mark that day, according to Huckabee. She prayed at the Western Wall and put a note between its cracks.

Noem later met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which she “expressed unqualified support for the prime minister and the State of Israel,” a Prime Minister’s Office readout stated. 

She also praised the border fence between Israel and Egypt, the PMO stated. The fence, which was completed in 2013, was built, in part, to block African migrants from crossing into Israel from the Sinai peninsula.

Noem also met last night with her counterpart, Itamar Ben-Gvir, in a meeting which was also attended by Netanyahu. According to a statement from Ben-Gvir’s office, the minister thanked Noem for American support for Israel and for Trump’s relocation plan for Gaza. The statement also noted that Noem invited Ben-Gvir for another visit to the U.S. During his last visit, in April, the far-right minister did not meet with Noem, who was in Texas at the time, nor anyone else in the Trump administration.

JI’s Lahav Harkov contributed to this report.

Yaron Lischinsky was laid to rest on Sunday in Beit Zayit, a moshav outside of Jerusalem, after he was killed alongside his partner, Sarah Lynn Milgrim, by a shooter who shouted “Free Palestine” at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington on Wednesday.

Hundreds attended the funeral, according to sources present. The funeral was closed to the media at the family’s request. Among those who attended were Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel and Lischinsky’s direct superior at the embassy, Minister-Counselor for Middle East Affairs Noa Ginosar, who accompanied his body to Israel.

Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog spoke at the funeral and told Jewish Insider that Lischinsky, a researcher in the embassy’s Middle East Affairs department, was someone “any ambassador would love to have serving in his embassy.”

“He was young, energetic and very talented,” Herzog, who finished his tenure as ambassador in January, said. “He had intellectual curiosity and a lot of knowledge. He was very devoted to his diplomatic work. He was creative and he was really a benefit to the embassy.”

Lischinsky considered taking the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s cadets course, Herzog recalled, which he, along with other senior embassy staff encouraged him to do, believing he had the aptitude to be a successful diplomat.

“We could rely on him, especially during the war,” the former ambassador added.

Herzog said he told Lischinsky’s parents that “unfortunately, tragically, they cannot bring Yaron back, but they should be proud of what he did, what he achieved and the mark he left.”

The former ambassador also spoke about Milgrim, whose funeral is set to be held on Tuesday in Kansas City, near where her family lives. Milgrim’s work at the Israeli Embassy focused on environmental issues and outreach to progressive groups.

“Like [Lischinsky], she was beautiful on the inside and outside,” Herzog said. “It was very painful to see such young, beautiful flowers destroyed at such a young age.” 

Herzog also said that Lischinsky and Milgrim’s murder “exemplifies the challenges facing people representing the state of Israel abroad.”

“They are at the forefront of the diplomatic efforts of the State of Israel, but also face a security challenge. Anybody who served in Washington can attest to the eruption of the crazy threat level after Oct. 7 [2023] and the incitement and brainwashing against Jewish people and the Jewish state, and they were victims of that,” he said.

“We have to continue the battle for the very legitimacy of Israel,” Herzog added. “They can light our path in that direction.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem landed in Israel on Sunday evening, and will participate in a memorial tree-planting ceremony for Lischinsky and Milgrim at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on Monday morning.

Pro-Israel leaders in the United States on Thursday connected the murder of two Israeli Embassy employees outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington to the anti-Israel advocacy seen on the political extremes throughout the country since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, characterizing it as a culmination of such rhetoric and, in some cases, the failure of some politicians to denounce it.

The suspected shooter, Elias Rodriguez, shouted “free, free Palestine” and “I did it for Gaza” following the shooting, according to an eyewitness and video from the arrest. He reportedly published a manifesto railing against Israel.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said that the attack should be a signal to the left that it needs to rethink its rhetoric on Israel and Zionism. He compared the anti-Israel movement in the United States to a “cult” that has been stoked online and is using inherently violent slogans while its members “try to hide behind this idea that it’s free speech to intimidate and terrorize members of the Jewish community.”

He said that too many on the left have failed to call out antisemitism in the anti-Israel movement.

“Why can’t you just call it what it is, and then address and assert the pressure on the aggressor,” which is Hamas,” Fetterman said. “I can’t even imagine having to live with that ever-present antisemitism and what? Why can’t people just acknowledge and call that what it is?”

Fetterman predicted that the same elements of the left that have supported Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, will also rally behind Rodriguez.

“What part of my party does this come from where it’s like, we try to defend or try to justify assassinating an executive in broad daylight or … somebody [who] guns down” two people at a Jewish event, Fetterman asked incredulously.

Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter connected the shooting to the anti-Israel protests seen on college campuses and elsewhere in the country.

“The point of the matter is that on campuses around this country, where ideas — these are the temples of ideas — where smart ideas, intelligent ideas, moral ideas, truthful ideas, are supposed to be taught, we have useful idiots running around in support of the destruction of Israel,” Leiter said at a press conference.

“This is done in the name of a political agenda to eradicate the State of Israel,” Leiter added. “The State of Israel is now fighting a war on seven fronts. This is the eighth front, a war to demonize, delegitimize, to eradicate the right of the State of Israel to exist.”

He also connected rising global antisemitism to countries like France that have spoken out against Israel and are moving to recognize a Palestinian state.

A coalition of 42 Jewish organizations, in a statement, described the murders as “the direct consequence of rising antisemitic incitement in places such as college campuses, city council meetings, and social media that has normalized hate and emboldened those who wish to do harm.”

William Daroff, the CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said on X, “There is a direct line between demonizing Israel, tolerating antisemitic hate speech in the public square, and violent action.” 

“We are now witnessing the deadly consequences of months of relentless antisemitic incitement — amplified by international organizations and political leaders across the globe — since the horrors of October 7,” Daroff said. “This is not a debate over policy; it is the mainstreaming of hatred, and its consequences are measured in blood.”

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) said on X the attack was “the deadly consequence of normalizing Jew-hatred.”

“Since October 7, antisemitic attacks have surged — fueled by violent chants to ‘globalize the intifada’ and slurs like ‘dirty Zionist,’” Gottheimer said. 

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), highlighting a tweet from a local anti-Israel group that praised the attack, said that, “Violence is not a bug but a feature of virulent Anti-Zionism.”

Arizona state Rep. Alma Hernandez called out a series of progressive lawmakers, saying, “spare us the fake outrage.”

“Two Israeli diplomats were murdered in cold blood—and you dare act concerned? Y’all have spent years fueling the hate and antisemitism that’s now exploding across America. Don’t pretend to care,” Hernandez continued, in an X post. “You are constantly surrounded by keffiyehs and “Free Palestine” and have pushed rhetoric that’s radicalized Americans into thinking murdering Jews and harassing them in the streets will somehow “liberate” Palestine and end the so-called genocide. No thanks.”

“We don’t want prayers from politicians who support individuals and organizations that promote this hate and who are being actively supported by said individuals and organizations while they run for office,” Hernandez added.

“You can’t support chants of ‘Globalize the Intifada’ and then be ‘appalled’ when people act it out,” Georgia state Rep. Esther Panitch said on X in response to a statement on the attack from Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) that did not acknowledge that the victims worked for the Israeli embassy and condemned “violence” broadly. Panitch also criticized other progressive Democrats who issued statements on the attack.

Panitch added, “Fascinating that those who campaigned against the Jewish community’s right to define their own experience of antisemitism are the ones who call ‘Globalizing the Intifada’ peaceful protests. The same ones who can’t say the word antisemitism in their posts.”

Jordan Acker, the University of Michigan regent who has been repeatedly targeted with antisemitic harassment and vandalism, drew a direct line between those incidents and demonstrations on the University of Michigan’s campus, and the Wednesday night murders.

“This isn’t protest. It’s a threat. This is what antisemitism looks like — and it’s escalating,” Acker said. “This is part of a terrifying trend: Jews in America being hunted, harassed, and attacked for being visibly Jewish — for existing in public. When we call it antisemitism, we’re told we’re overreacting. That our fear is political. That our pain is inconvenient. We’ve been gaslit for 18 months. Enough.”

He also called out progressives directly, saying “antisemitism isn’t any less dangerous when it comes wrapped in ‘progressive’ language.”

In response to the attack, some of the most prominent far-left critics of Israel on Capitol Hill have offered what many in the Jewish community have seen as half-hearted and inadequate responses.

“My heart breaks for the loved ones of the victims of last night’s attack in D.C. Nobody deserves such terrible violence. Everyone in our communities deserves to live in safety and in peace,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) said, linking to an article highlighting that the victims, Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, were Israeli Embassy workers, but not noting their backgrounds or the circumstances of the shooting in her own post.

Omar noted that the shooting took place at the Capital Jewish Museum but did not acknowledge the victims’ backgrounds and condemned violence broadly.

“I am appalled by the deadly shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum last night. Holding the victims, their families, and loved ones in my thoughts and prayers,” Omar said. “Violence should have no place in our country.”

“The perfect diplomat.” 

That’s how a former colleague and friend of Yaron Lischinsky remembered him on Thursday, the day after the Israeli Embassy staff member was shot dead alongside his girlfriend, Sarah Milgrim, outside of the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington as the couple was leaving an event for young diplomats and Jewish professionals hosted by the American Jewish Committee.

“He was diligent and went to DC to pursue his dream,” Klil, who interned with Lischinsky, 29, at the Abba Eban Institute for Diplomacy and Foreign Relations at Reichman University in Herzliya, Israel, in 2020 and requested to be identified only by her first name, told Jewish Insider. The internship centered around developing a platform for diplomats to stay connected online during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.  

The two had an instant connection “because we both studied Asian studies and we both focused on Japan,” Klil recalled. “We spoke a lot about Israel and Asia.” 

“His English was perfect,” she said. “I started the internship a bit before him and when they brought him in I was like ‘OK, he’s going to be the perfect diplomat.’ I wish I could tell his family that he was a great guy.”  

The pair mostly lost touch after the internship, when Lischinsky — a Christian who was raised in Germany — moved to Washington to work at the Israeli Embassy after pursuing a masters’ degree at Reichman. But their interest in Japan kept the two connected via social media, where they would share cherry blossom photos — Lischinsky’s came each spring when the Japanese trees bloomed on the Tidal Basin in Washington. Klil shared her cherry blossom photos from London, where she was living after the internship. “We had a shared experience around that,” she said. 

Recently, Lischinsky’s Instagram posts featured more than cherry blossoms.

Klil took note of the photos he had been posting, posing together with Milgrim. The couple met while both working at the embassy. “Just looking at the photos from afar,” Klil said, she had a feeling the relationship was serious. Lischinsky purchased a ring earlier this week, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter said on Wednesday night. The two victims were planning to get engaged next week in Jerusalem.

Milgrim, 26, was remembered by a former colleague and friend as “bright, helpful, smart and passionate.” 

“Sarah was committed to working towards peace,” said Jake Shapiro, who worked with Milgrim in 2022-23 at Teach2Peace, an organization dedicated to building peace between Palestinians and Israelis. 

“One small bright spot in all of this is seeing both Israelis and Palestinians that knew Sarah sending their condolences and remembering her together,” Shapiro told JI. That gives him hope that a “more peaceful reality is possible.” 

Milgrim, who was Jewish and originally from Kansas, moved to Washington to receive a master’ s degree from American University. She graduated in 2023 with a degree in International Affairs. “I am deeply saddened by this senseless act,” Jonathan Alger, the university’s president, said in a statement. “Sarah was only beginning her life’s journey, and it is anguishing that her light was taken away because of hate.” 

“Antisemitism is a scourge that must be stopped,” Alger said. 

Growing up, Milgrim was active in the small, tightknit Jewish community of Overland Park, Kan. In high school, she participated in the Orthodox Union-run Jewish youth group NCSY’s Jewish Student Union network of public school clubs. “Sarah was one of ours. And we will not forget her,” Micah Greenland, director of NCSY, said in a statement. 

“We were privileged to witness Sarah’s passion for Israel and the Jewish people firsthand through her involvement in the Senator Jerry Moran Israel Scholars program,” Greenland said, referring to the Kansas senator. 

Those who knew both of the young victims echoed that the theme of Wednesday night’s event — “Turning Pain Into Purpose,” discussing humanitarian aid initiatives, including in Gaza, and working to counter the rising tide of “us versus them” narratives — was among the topics the two were most passionate about. 

Paige Siegel, who was a guest at the event, told JI that she heard two sets of multiple shots ring out, and then an individual, who police have since identified as suspected shooter Elias Rodriguez, a 30-year-old man from Chicago, entered the building appearing disoriented and panicked, seconds after the shooting ended. 

Siegel recounted that she spoke to the man, asking him if he had been shot. He appeared panicked and was mumbling and repeatedly told bystanders to call the police. Siegel, who attended the evening with her girlfriend who is not Jewish and was attending a Jewish event for the first time, said that she felt the man was suspicious. He was sitting in the building in a state of distress for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, according to Siegel who engaged him in conversation, informing him that he was in the Jewish museum.

After Siegel said that, she said the man started screaming, “I did it, I did it. Free Palestine. I did it for Gaza,” and opened a backpack, withdrawing a red keffiyeh before being detained by police. Security footage later confirmed that the man was Rodriguez, the shooter. 

Jewish communities around the U.S. remained on high alert Thursday. Several D.C.-based Jewish organizations directed their employees to work from home. In New York, the state with the largest Jewish population, Gov. Kathy Hochul said enhanced security measures were implemented. New York City Mayor Eric Adams ordered increased NYPD presence at Jewish sites across the city, calling the murders “exactly what it means to globalize the intifada.” 

Jewish Insider’s senior congressional correspondent Marc Rod contributed reporting.