The leadership and global family of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem have all been shocked and grieved at the brutal murder of Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, outside the AJC event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC on Wednesday evening.

This was a cruel, detestable act of fanatical hatred bred by the rampant wave of antisemitism currently manifesting against Israel and the Jewish people worldwide. We condemn the pre-meditated killing of these two Israeli Embassy staff members, as well as the reckless incitement against the Jewish state and people which fueled it, including the many recent irresponsible statements against Israel emanating from world leaders.

We also mourn with our Jewish friends the loss of Yaron and Sarah. I and my family personally knew Yaron well as a member of our congregation in Jerusalem. Like my family, he moved to Israel from Germany out of a deep conviction that he belonged in this nation. Several of our Jerusalem staff also knew Yaron and his family, and we are all broken-hearted for the Lischinsky family, and the Milgrim family as well. May they be comforted and consoled in Zion (Isaiah 61:2-3).

I fondly remember Yaron as an outstanding, articulate young man with a promising diplomatic career ahead of him. He attended a number of Christian Embassy events as part of the official delegations from the Israeli Embassy in Washington. His death is a loss for the whole nation of Israel, and it is made all the more sad and painful coming right before the joy of his engagement to Sarah.

The tragic loss of Yaron and Sarah is a clarion call for Christians everywhere to stand up as never before against the antisemitic incitement now permeating our global discourse.

Dr. Jürgen Bühler, President International Christian Embassy Jerusalem