‘It's unbearable': Close friend of diplomats murdered in antisemitic Washington DC shooting makes emotional tribute, says attack should serve as a ‘wake-up call'

Sky News AU

26-05-2025

A close personal friend of the two Jewish diplomats tragically killed in the horrific Washington DC shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum has emotionally recalled her colleagues and denounced the sharp rise of antisemitism throughout the globe.
Two young employees of the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC, Sarah Milgrim, 30 and Yaron Lischinsky, 26 were shot and killed on May 21 outside an event at the Capital Jewish Museum.
The suspect, Elias Rodriguez was arrested a short time after the incident and charged with first-degree murder and other crimes on April 22, with US authorities investigating the attack as a hate crime.
The suspect shouted 'I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza' after being detained by law enforcement, with the FBI stating it was investigating pro-Palestinian social media posts made by the perpetrator.
Ayelet Razin, a close personal friend of the two victims and the former director of international justice at Israel's Ministry of Justice said the young couple were 'murdered brutally only because they were Jewish' and recalled the 'beautiful' nature of her colleagues.
'I actually met Sarah during my research and advocacy on the gender-based violence on October 7th, that's how I met her, she was my counterpart in the Israeli embassy in Washington' Ms Razin said, speaking to Sky News host Sharri Markson.
Ms Razin, still evidently shaken by the appalling incident said the attack was a 'tragedy' and that Sarah was a 'beautiful soul, a peace lover and a peace activist'.
'She was murdered brutally only because she was Jewish, because she was Israeli'.
She said the killing should be 'taken as a wake-up call not only in the US, but all over the world' and stated the 'next murder is not a question of if, but a question of when'.
Ms Milgrim was an American from Prairie Village, Kansas and Mr Lischinsky was born in Israel and moved with his family to Germany, yet later returned to Israel when he was 16.
According to the Israeli ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter, the couple met about a year and a half ago after Ms Milgrim joined the embassy, and that Mr Lischinsky was about to ask her to marry him.
'The young man purchased a ring this week with the intention of proposing to his girlfriend next week in Jerusalem,' he told journalists.
Ms Razin said the rise in antisemitic related incidents globally after October 7, 2023 was 'unbearable' and 'unbelievable'.
'It's kind of like 'you brought it on yourself because you're Jewish, because you are Israeli', as if Sarah or Yaron, may they rest in peace, had anything to do with Israel's policy and the war in Gaza,' Ms Razin lamented.
'It really doesn't matter if you are pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli, whatever you think of the conflict, you cannot murder innocent people.
She also said she was unaware of another ethnic group apart from Jews who had experienced such overt levels of prejudice and racial vilification.
'Show me, show me where else is there an ethnical group, a religious group, any group that has to hide its religious symbols, that cannot speak its native language out in public'.
However, Ms Razin reiterated that those committing violence against Jewish people were a minority, and that people of all faiths and backgrounds needed to unite to deplore such actions.
'The threat of radicals, extremists, Islamic, they are a minority, a tiny minority, but they are setting the standard'.
'It's not only to Israelis or Jews, everywhere in the world, every week or so, you see some kind of terror attack towards a general crowd and if the world doesn't understand that this is a threat and we need to stand together and fight it it's just either stupidity or blindness'.