‘We're trying to be thankful for the time we had with him’: Brother of murdered Israeli diplomat shares faith and grief on THE ROSENBERG REPORT
In a deeply moving interview, Hanan Lischinsky opens up about losing his brother, Yaron, in a terror attack in Washington D.C. and how faith sustains their family
In May, 30-year-old Israeli diplomat Yaron Lischinsky was preparing to bring his American girlfriend and colleague, 26-year-old Sarah Milgrim, home to Jerusalem. He planned to introduce her to his family before proposing at a place of profound significance: the Western Wall.
But a senseless act of violence shattered their plans.
A left-wing radical from Chicago opened fire at close range at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., shouting “Free Palestine” as he gunned them down. The couple had been attending an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee.
“This particular story hit very close to home because one of the brothers of Yaron Lischinsky worked for ALL ISRAEL NEWS,” shared Editor-in-Chief Joel Rosenberg. “He is a colleague of mine, an amazing journalist, and a strong believer in Jesus.”
In his first interview with any Israeli or American network, Hanan Lischinsky sat down with THE ROSENBERG REPORT to speak about the tragedy, his family’s grief, and the central role faith plays in how they cope.
“They met in the embassy, amid the carnage of the war of October 7th,” Hanan told Rosenberg at the TBN studio in Jerusalem. “They were supposed to be here for ten days, then go back to the U.S. and possibly do a civil marriage there. They planned to move to Israel a year later.”
Rosenberg asked, “Where were you when you personally heard the news of what had happened?”
“As a journalist, the first thing I do is check the news,” Hanan replied. “I woke up early. I checked all the news. I saw that there was a shooting in Washington. In the beginning I didn't really think Yaron would be there. I didn't know exactly what the event was... Washington is a big city, and we didn't know exactly where he would go.”
Hanan’s other younger brother, who works security at the Israeli Embassy in Ecuador, was the first to learn what had happened. He called Hanan – the eldest of five siblings – who then had to gather himself to drive the short distance to their parents’ home in a small village outside Jerusalem.
“I didn't know how to tell them,” he recalled. “My parents, at the time, they thought that maybe something had happened, but they didn't know for sure.”
Soon after, officials from Israel’s Foreign Ministry arrived to formally deliver the terrible news.
“The Foreign Ministry has been unbelievably good to our family. They've been grieving with us,” Hanan told Rosenberg.
The Lischinsky family was deeply touched by the outpouring of condolences from around the world.
“There was almost an unending stream of people who just showed up at our door,” Hanan said, including Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, and even President Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem.
Israel’s Ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter, who tragically lost his own son in Gaza in November 2023, also called to share in their grief. He was the one who broke the news to Sarah Milgrim’s family.
“He said he really feels the pain of my mother and father,” Hanan shared.
Reflecting on the days following the murder, Hanan spoke about how his parents - who did not grow up in Israel - found comfort in the Jewish mourning tradition of ‘Shiva.’
“Both of my parents didn't grow up in Israel, so this Jewish custom of ‘Shiva’ which means that you sit in your home for seven days and people come to comfort you and to grieve with you… They didn't really grow up with this. It was our first experience of this, and we have to say, it was in a surprising way, very comforting,” he said.
The Lischinskys’ story is also one of a remarkable spiritual journey. Hanan’s father, an Argentinian Jew, came to faith in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah in his teens. He immigrated to Israel in his early twenties with Hanan’s grandmother, where he later met Hanan’s mother – a German Christian from a Lutheran family.
Their shared faith, Hanan said, “was the basis for them meeting each other in Jerusalem and marrying.”
Born in Jerusalem, Hanan and Yaron moved with their family to Germany at a young age, joining an Evangelical church there. When they returned to Israel at 16 and 14, they became part of a local Messianic Jewish congregation. All five siblings went on to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces.
“I am very proud of being of Jewish heritage and proud of being an Israeli, as was Yaron. He was very Zionist. But if people ask me, I am a Messianic Jew, this is something I identify with as well,” Hanan said.
Only a year and a half apart, Hanan and Yaron were exceptionally close.
“I miss him about 20 times a day, when I see something interesting on 𝕏 and just want to share it with him,” Hanan said. “He was always my first address to comment on something happening in the U.S. or happening with the war. It's all the little things.”
Rosenberg asked, “What does your faith, and his, teach you about where he is?”
“That's been the only and the biggest comfort for us as a family,” Hanan replied.
“We're just so sad, but at least we know, we have this hope that we will meet Yaron again. We know that he's with our Father in heaven now,” he said.
“We're not bitter. We're trying to be thankful for the time that we did have with him. He really was a blessing to all of us for 30 years. I'm just so thankful to the Lord.”
Rosenberg added that his own sons had known Yaron well and were deeply impressed by his deep faith.
They described him as “quiet, kind, very engaging, interested in everything and everyone.”
“I look forward to meeting him in heaven,” Rosenberg said.
Watch Joel Rosenberg’s full interview with Hanan Lischinsky, brother of Yaron Lischinsky, on the TBN website.
THE ROSENBERG REPORT airs Thursday nights at 9 p.m. EST and Saturday nights at 10 p.m. EST on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the most-watched Christian television network in the United States.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
You might also like to read this:
