Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and his fiancée-to-be, Sarah Milgrim, were shot and murdered during an antisemitic terrorist attack by an anti-Israel gunman in Washington DC.
By David Rosenberg, World Israel News
The two victims gunned down outside of an event held at a Jewish museum in Washington D.C. have been identified as Yaron Lischinsky, an employee of the Israeli Foreign Ministry serving as a staffer at the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C, and his girlfriend, Sarah Milgrim.
Lischinsky and Milgrim, who also worked as a staffer at the Israeli embassy, were shot dead Wednesday night at approximately 9:15 p.m. as they exited the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington D.C., accompanied by two other people.
The gunman, 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, was detained by museum security personnel shortly after the shooting when he attempted to enter the building.
Police arrived on the scene soon afterwards and placed Rodriguez under arrest.
Video footage of the arrest shows Rodriguez shouting “Free, free Palestine” while being handcuffed.
Eyewitness Sara Marinuzzi told CNN that Rodriguez confessed to police who arrived to place him under arrest, telling them he was motivated by Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“I did it, I did it for Gaza. Free Palestine!”
According to a statement by embassy spokesperson Tal Naim, Rodriguez shot the two staffers at point-blank range.
An immigrant to Israel who moved from Germany at the age of 16, Lischinsky, 30, worked as a research assistant in the Israeli Embassy in Washington’s Middle East and North Africa Affairs office.
Milgrim worked in the Foreign Ministry’s public diplomacy department at the Washington embassy, after previously working with Tech2Peace, a group promoting Arab-Jewish coexistence via technology.
Lischinsky and Milgrim, who were planning to get engaged according to Israeli Ambassador to Israel Yechiel Leiter, were murdered after they attended an American Jewish Committee event for young diplomats.
American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch responded to news of the shooting, calling it an “unspeakable act of violence.”
“We are devastated that an unspeakable act of violence took place outside the venue,” Deutch said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar condemned the shooting as a terrorist attack, declaring that “Israel will not surrender to terror.”
“Horrified by this morning’s terrorist attack, in which two of our Embassy staff in Washington D.C. were murdered. Israeli representatives around the world are constantly exposed to heightened risk – especially in these times. We are in close contact with American authorities. Israel will not surrender to terror.”
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