The Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) mourns the horrific murder of two staff members of Israel’s Embassy in Washington, DC – Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. The two were shot dead by an armed assailant outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in downtown Washington. The shooter, a young man wearing a Palestinian “keffiyeh”, was filmed screaming “free Palestine” as he was apprehended and handcuffed by police in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
This attack is but a culmination of rampant antisemitism which has been allowed to run free in our country, from our streets to our college campuses, on the grounds of “free speech”. Today, we have learned once more that violent and hateful speech always morphs into violent and hateful actions. An assassination of two unarmed civilians in the heart of our nation’s capital can never be justified by events unfolding in the Middle East. It can never be explained by geopolitics.
Says EMET’s Director of Legislative Affairs, and former Israeli Embassy employee, Elad Israeli: Yaron and Sarah were personal friends of mine. I welcomed Yaron to Washington when he first arrived from Israel three years ago, and we stayed in touch even as I had left to serve at EMET. Through my friendship with him I met Sarah, and the two of us shared memories of our childhoods in Kansas City, where she was born and raised and I had spent a full year growing up. I had the pleasure of meeting the two of them just two weeks ago, at the embassy’s Israeli Independence Day celebration, and they shared with me their plans to marry and start a family.
Today, EMET stands in mourning with the Israeli Embassy staff. More than ever, we pledge to continue leading the fight against antisemitism in the halls of government. Our lives depend on it.
EMET is a Middle Eastern policy institute that specializes in Israel and the prevention of antisemitism.
