23-05-2025
NYPD boosts security at Jewish sites in NYC
NEW YORK — NYPD security is heightened at Jewish and Israeli sites around the city after two employees of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., were gunned down.
Sarah Milgrim, 26, and Yaron Lischinsky, 30, were about to get engaged, according to the Israeli ambassador. The couple, who worked at the embassy, were at an event at the Capital Jewish Museum on Wednesday evening when a gunman opened fire on them while the couple was standing in front of the museum with two other people.
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The attack there prompted the NYPD to increase security at sites in the five boroughs, out of an abundance of caution, according to Mayor Eric Adams and Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner.
The point of the increased deployment, they said, was to prevent copycat attacks, even though there are no known threats in New York on the day after Milgrim and Lischinsky were slain.
Joshua Maxey, the executive director of Bet Mishpachah, the main LGBTQ synagogue in Washington, was friends with Milgrim and Lischinsky. He'd worked closely with Milgrim on a variety of events.
'Sarah was a true peace builder,' Maxey said about his friend, with whom he'd spoken by phone early Wednesday evening, not long before she was killed. She'd been helping to plan Pride Month events with the Washington LGBTQ community on the day she was slain. Maxey said that Milgrim made that kind of uniting her life's mission.
'We should keep Sarah as an example,' Maxey said, 'to strive for peace in this country, peace in our world, so that acts of violence, acts of terror such as this [are] not normal in our societies.'
Because a risk of such acts exists, however, a scene outside of the Israeli consulate in Midtown Manhattan was repeated at locations across the city.
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NYPD officers were on hand on all sides of the Israeli diplomatic building, a block away from the United Nations. Also, at sites citywide, what happened at an historic synagogue and museum was replicated again and again.
At the Museum at Eldridge Street, an NYPD patrol car pulled up as part of its rounds on Thursday afternoon. Two officers emerged, and looked over the historic structure. It's part of activity that Mayor Eric Adams said is a necessity.
'This city has no room for hate,' he said at a news conference with leaders from a variety of faiths.
The NYPD's deputy commissioner for counterterrorism elaborated about the heightened security. During an interview with PIX11 News, Rebecca Weiner said that the increased patrols feature 'our counterrorism officers, specially trained and deployed officers from our critical response teams, and heavy weapons teams and officers on patrol.'
She added one more point, for emphasis. 'First and foremost,' she said, 'no elevated risk' for an attack exists, currently.
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