“A bright light extinguished far too soon”: That’s how Sarah Milgrim’s former American University professor, Jesse Ribot, described her.
Milgrim graduated from AU with a master’s degree in international affairs in 2023.
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WATCH HERE“Sarah was about bridge building and peacemaking across the divide that killed her,” Ribot said.
He said he’s remembering her for her dedication to peacebuilding.
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SIGN UP “It's a shame,” Ribot said. “She would have done a lot of good things for Palestinians, even from inside the Israeli Embassy.”
The 26-year-old and her boyfriend, Yaron Lischinsky, were both employees at the Israeli Embassy. They were ambushed by a gunman as they left a humanitarian event at the Capital Jewish Museum Wednesday night. The murders are being investigated as a hate crime and an act of terrorism.
“She was very passionate, and I was struck by the degree to which she was dedicated as a young Jewish woman to justice in Palestine and in Israel,” Ribot said.
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He said she only took one of his classes, but left an unforgettable mark.
“She wrote a term paper, which was a research proposal that was very striking. I gave her an A-plus on it, and it deserved it,” Ribot said. “[…] The paper looked at the ways in which water policy in Israel favored Jewish Israelis and disfavored minorities, and she wanted to research the causes of this.”
He got to know her through her writing.
“I have a lot of students. Very few students are able to apply theory in effective ways to case study material in order to make empirically grounded arguments about the production and maintenance of injustice. This is rare,” Ribot said. “She is what I would call ‘PhD material.’ She should have gone on, or easily could have gone on to get a doctorate, if that was what she desired.”
He even nominated her for an award for a piece she wrote in her hometown paper.
He hopes her and Lischisnsky's deaths will help bring the peace she advocated for and not more division.
“This polarization is exceedingly damaging,” Ribot said.
Milgrim was originally from Kansas, and her funeral will be held in her home state on Tuesday.
Lischinsky's body was transported back to Israel Friday. Officials say loved ones and representatives of the Israeli Foreign Ministry met the coffin at an airport before he was taken to his final resting place.
