The father of the bride-to-be who was killed along with her boyfriend near the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, said his daughter was working to bring Israeli-Palestinian peace and more aid to Gaza before being gunned down by a suspect who later yelled “Free, free Palestine.”
Robert Milgrim, 73, slammed suspect Elias Rodriguez’s alleged motives as blatantly antisemitic and of no help to Gaza given that his daughter, Sarah Milgrim, 26, was dedicated to helping Palestinians.
“Last night, she was attending an affair to figure out how to get more aid into Gaza,” Milgrim told The Post. “The night she was killed, she was trying to help the situation – that’s the irony.”
Police are probing whether Rodriguez blasted out an anti-Israel manifesto online leading up to the murder of Sarah and her boyfriend, Yaron Lischinsky, 28.
Milgrim said his daughter was passionate about her work with the embassy and had spent several summers in Israel working with “peace-building groups” to help unite Palestinians and Israelis.
Sarah worked in the Department of Public Diplomacy at the embassy and organized several visits and missions to Israel, according to her LinkedIn page.
Follow The Post’s coverage on Israeli Embassy staffers killed in DC
She had a master’s degree in international affairs from American University and another for natural resources and sustainable development from the University for Peace.
Prior to her start at the embassy, Sarah worked for Tech2Peace in Tel Aviv conducting research on peace-building initiatives between Israelis and Palestinians.
My passion lies at the intersection of peacebuilding, religious engagement, and environmental work,” Milgrim wrote on LinkedIn.
Milgrim said the killings have left his family completely wrecked, especially after learning that Lischinsky was planning to propose to Sarah next week.
“We didn’t even know about it. She was leaving on Sunday to Israel to meet his family. They were going together,” Milgrim said.
“She was happier now than she ever was in her life. She was truly in love with Yaron and vice versa,” he added.
Rodriguez, a Chicago native, is accused of gunning down the couple as they were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum.
The shooting comes amid a surge in antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023
