This afternoon (Wednesday), the American Jewish Committee, Israel’s Mission to the UN and the Consulate General of Israel in New York hosted a memorial event for the two Israeli Embassy staffers murdered outside an AJC event in Washington, D.C. last Wednesday. The event was joined by community leaders, congressional officials and diplomats from dozens of nations worldwide.

AJC CEO Ted Deutch said: “This devastating antisemitic attack is harrowing not just because of the two beautiful souls we lost, but because it could have happened to any of us in the world.

"This is what globalizing the intifada looks like. When people dehumanize Jews and Zionists, when they spread lies about and demonizations of Israel -- this is the outcome we should expect. Antisemitism left unchecked can and will lead to violence. We’ve seen this in Amsterdam, Paris, Tel Aviv and in our nation’s capital,“ Deutch added.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon spoke at the memorial and condemned UN officials for spreading baseless claims about Israel in the lead up to last week's terror attack: "When Israeli diplomats are no longer safe walking the streets of the free world, the alarm bells must ring in every capital."

"This was not only an antisemitic killing. It was an attack on the very foundation of diplomacy. It is not a coincidence that just two days before this horrific attack, Mr. Tom Fletcher, a senior UN official, falsely claimed fourteen thousand babies would die in Gaza," Danon added. "This was a lie. A blood libel. When you normalize hate against Israelis, when you dehumanize our diplomats, when you spread slander from the highest international platforms: you bear the burden of what follows...Yaron and Sarah paid the price for words that should never have been spoken, and that were never condemned."

"We will not accept this new reality. We will not allow this to become normal. We will not let the deaths of two young diplomats pass without consequence," Danon said.