Two Murders

Globalizing the Intifada

Yesterday, I went to the garden section of Fred Meyer and bought the rest of the annuals I want to plant in my little garden. I’m trying to have a whole section of red flowers because I hear red attracts hummingbirds. I only have a couple of small beds in the back of my condo. I’ve tried to dedicate one to roses, though I may find a way to add the lavender plant my daughter sent me for Mother’s Day. The other bed will be red blossoms. I’ll get them in the ground today.

But I’m stalling until I find words to express what’s heaviest in my heart this morning. A young Jewish couple was shot and killed outside an American Jewish Committee dinner in Washington, D.C. last night. Sarah Milgrum and Yaron Lischinsky. Yaron had bought a ring and was planning to propose to Sarah, an American citizen, next week when they traveled together to Jerusalem to meet his family. Sarah’s mom said she had been worried about her daughter travelling to Israel. Instead, her daughter and her almost fiancé were struck down by an American outside the Jewish Museum in Washington D.C., coming from that dinner.

The killer, the assassin, waited for them to leave the event. I’m sure it could have been any Jewish couple he shot. It could have been my son and his wife if they’d been there.

I imagine students who have been calling to “Globalize the Intifada” for the past two years are rejoicing? Oh, wait. “That’s not what we really meant.”

Apparently the shooter disagreed. He actually went inside the building after the murder, pulled out a red and white keffiyeh and shouted, “Free, free Palestine.”

The headlines in the New York Times read, “Days from Getting Engaged, They Were Killed in D.C.” My writing teachers always encourage us to use the most active verbs applicable. The couple weren’t “killed” when their car went off the road. They were murdered, victims of a vicious assassin. The Times did write a beautiful, heartbreaking summary of the couples’ lives. I’ve included the link here. I think it will work as a gift if you don’t have a subscription. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/world/middleeast/israel-embassy-dc-shooting-victims-sarah-milgrim-yaron-lischinsky.html?unlocked_article_code=1.JE8.e3KG.cGz3pWJ3QAxl&smid=url-share

That’s what I’ve got this morning. I know millions of Americans are in danger of losing their health insurance with the new congressional budget. I know wars drag on, not only in Gaza, but Ukraine, the Sudan, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and many other sites.

But sometimes, the deaths of two individual young people is what you have to focus on. As the psalmist says, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” Pray that the antisemitism flooding the world will abate. And may the memories of Sarah Milgrum and Yaron Lischinsky be a blessing.