Slain Israeli Diplomat Sarah Milgrim Laid to Rest in Kansas on Day of Planned Engagement |WATCH

On Tuesday, May 27, 2025, Sarah Milgrim, a 26-year-old Israeli Embassy staffer from Prairie Village, Kansas, was laid to rest at Congregation Beth Torah in Overland Park, her casket draped in an Israeli flag, on what was meant to be her engagement day in Jerusalem. Milgrim and her partner, Yaron Lischinsky, 30, were fatally shot on May 21, 2025, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., after a young diplomats’ reception. The gunman, Elias Rodriguez, 31, arrested at the scene, shouted “Free Palestine” and later told police he acted “for Gaza,” according to charging documents cited by The Kansas City Star. The tragedy, which claimed two lives, has left the Kansas City Jewish community and beyond in mourning.

Milgrim, remembered as a bridge-builder, held a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from the University of Kansas and a master’s in international affairs from American University. She worked on Israeli-Palestinian coexistence programs in Tel Aviv and advocated for women’s and LGBTQ rights. At the embassy, she organized events to foster dialogue, earning praise from her supervisor, Sawsan Hasson, who noted, “Even in passing, you have created connection and unity.” Lischinsky, set to propose in Jerusalem, was buried in Beit Zayit, Israel, on May 25. Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter called Milgrim “a peace-seeker and fighter for justice.”

The private funeral, livestreamed globally, drew family, friends, and colleagues. The Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City urged rejecting violence and embracing unity, directing contributions in Milgrim’s memory to their organization. Her death evokes painful memories of the 2014 Overland Park anti-Semitic attack, where three were killed at Jewish sites. King Charles, in a May 26 statement on a separate Liverpool incident, condemned rising violence, reflecting broader concerns about hate crimes. Milgrim’s legacy of peace and diplomacy endures, a poignant contrast to the hatred that ended her life.