The head of the American Jewish Committee blamed “unchecked antisemitism” for the killing of two Israeli Embassy employees Wednesday night in Washington, D.C.
Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, said it’s still unclear whether the victims, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim, were specifically targeted.
The shootings happened outside the Capitol Jewish Museum, where the American Jewish Committee was hosting an event.
Authorities say the suspect in the shooting chanted “free, free Palestine” after he was detained by security officers.
“While we don’t know that they were targeted, we do know that this kind of loss and the pain that it causes is going to affect the entire community, not just in Washington and in the AJC world, but throughout the Jewish world,” Deutch said. “And certainly, importantly, across the world where it’s our democratic values that are really at risk if we don’t come together to stand up to the kind of hatred, antisemitism, that leads to these kinds of horrors.”
3 questions with Ted Deutch
What can you share about the victims?
“It’s a horrific, horrific event that took the lives of two beautiful young souls. Yaron and Sarah were a couple, both good partners and friends of American Jewish Committee. Sarah was engaged with us on a whole host of issues to make the world a better place to build relations between different peoples across the Middle East, exactly the kind of hopeful work that was happening last night at the event at the Jewish Museum before this terrible tragedy took place.
“It’s why it was especially painful, and it’s a moment where we have to reflect on how to prevent these kinds of tragedies from ever happening again and not allowing the kind of unchecked antisemitism that led to this moment to continue anywhere in the world.”
Were they specifically targeted?
“We don’t know that. The investigation is ongoing. The federal government, the District of Columbia, all deeply engaged in figuring out exactly what happened and making sure that they’re able to explain that. While we don’t know that they were targeted, we do know that this kind of loss and the pain that it causes is going to affect the entire community, not just in Washington and in the AJC world, but throughout the Jewish world, and certainly, importantly, across the world where it’s our democratic values that are really at risk if we don’t come together to stand up to the kind of hatred antisemitism that leads to these kinds of horrors.”
What needs to happen now?
“Well, importantly, this isn’t an effort that can be left up to any one government or the administration or anyone else. It requires all of us, all of us coming together to understand that when people dress like terrorists and scream, ‘globalize the intifada,’ that calls like that have real repercussions that can lead to violence and death. We’ve been saying it over and over. No one wanted to be right about it. But we have to come together and say that we just will not accept unchecked antisemitism and unchecked hatred wherever it comes from, certainly across the United States and anywhere in the world. That’s what we have to do together.”
This interview was edited for clarity.
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Jill Ryan produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Catherine Welch. Michael Scotto adapted it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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