TOPEKA — Members of the Kansas congressional delegation participated in a moment of silence on the U.S. House floor to honor the memory of a couple slain in May during an apparent antisemitic attack outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.
Federal lawmakers stood in tribute for Sarah Milgrim, who grew up in Prairie Village, Kansas, and her partner, Yaron Lischinsky. Both were staff members at the Israeli embassy. They were fatally shot May 21 by a Chicago man who reportedly yelled “free Palestine” while handcuffed and has been charged with first-degree murder.
U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat who represents the community where Milgrim was raised, said the couple were “tragically and senselessly killed in an antisemitic attack.”
“This hateful and targeted violence is not only heartbreaking, it is unacceptable,” she said. “Antisemitism has no place in our country, and yet we are seeing a deeply disturbing rise in these acts of hate.”
DAVIDS SAID Milgrim was a member of Congregation B’nai Jehudah and that Milgrim and Lischinsky were committed to building understanding and connection between Israel and the United States.
“To the Jewish community in Kansas, Colorado and across the nation,” Davids said, “please know that I am standing with you. We mourn with you. We recommit to creating a world where no one fears for their safety because of who they are.”
Davids offered her thoughts Tuesday in collaboration with a group of representatives, including Kansas Republican U.S. Reps. Tracey Mann and Derek Schmidt.
Milgrim was a 2017 graduate of Shawnee Mission East High School and earned a degree in 2021 from the University of Kansas. Her funeral service was May 27 at a synagogue in Overland Park, Kansas.
