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I Knew Yaron Lischinsky Personally; This Is What the World Lost
Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim who were shot and killed as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum, pose for a picture at an unknown location, in this handout image released by Embassy of Israel to the US on May 22, 2025. Photo: Embassy of Israel to the USA via X/Handout via REUTERS
Throughout my college years, Israel’s embassy in Washington, D.C., became more than just a diplomatic post — it became a home. It was a place of grounding and belonging amid the turbulence of campus life. From volunteer work to student leadership forums, from Hanukkah and Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations to moments of crisis, advocacy, and solidarity, the embassy staff embraced me like family. Within its walls, I feel not only humbled but empowered to contribute to something larger than myself, something noble and necessary.
Two individuals, in particular, embodied the spirit of that home: Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. While I never had the chance to know Sarah personally, I had the privilege of working closely with Yaron, whose composure and deep passion left a lasting impression on me. His bright eyes and radiant smile greeted me the first time I walked through the embassy’s doors as a volunteer, and never failed to do so afterward. In the harrowing days following October 7, 2023, when a coalition of students eagerly rallied to support the embassy, it was Yaron who welcomed us. He didn’t just open the door to a building — he invited us into a mission.
On our first day, Yaron led us into a room where students, embassy staff, and diplomats worked side-by-side for hours. The work was often emotionally taxing — each name, each story, each image of an Israeli victim, weighed heavily on us. Still, we returned the next day, and the day after that, for many weeks. Yaron was always there, smiling, ready to greet and lead.
It may sound strange to admit, but looking back, I miss those days — some of the most tragic days I’ve lived through. My commutes to the embassy were often in tears: for the murdered, the kidnapped, the wounded, the grieving families, and the ravaged kibbutzim. Yet inside the embassy, something sacred took shape. We listened to testimonies, wrote, edited, created — becoming keyboard warriors committed to truth and dignity at a time when the definition of those very words felt absent.
To Yaron, we weren’t mere volunteers or Israel advocates — we were partners, friends, and, in time, family. Amid both moral and physical crisis, he helped us find steady ground. He gave us structure and direction. He helped us translate pain into purpose. He empowered us to tell Israel’s story with clarity and conviction, to stand up against lies, and to defend the Jewish people with both compassion and courage.
The bond I formed with Yaron was forged in fire — born of grief, purpose, and shared resolve — and is one I will carry with me always. Alongside the embassy staff, he helped unify and empower a group of students reeling from trauma. Yaron reminded us that resilience is not born from comfort, but from moral clarity and strength of spirit. He reminded us that defending what is right is a duty that transcends borders and spans generations. As we now mourn the brutal act that took his and Sarah’s lives, that lesson becomes all the more urgent — and must never be forgotten.
That’s what makes the truth so devastating — a weight that sits like a stone in my heart: Yaron and his partner Sarah, whom he planned to propose to in Jerusalem this week, were taken by the very hatred they dedicated their lives to confronting. This wasn’t senseless violence in a vacuum. It was fueled by the same antisemitism and the same ideological rot that has seeped beyond Israel’s borders, infiltrated our institutions, and has now metastasized into violence that has taken their precious lives.
In memory of Yaron and Sarah, we must not look away. Every global citizen — and especially every Jew — must confront the radicalization seeping through our schools, our streets, and our institutions. We must reject the normalization of antisemitism and the moral cowardice that hides behind slogans like “academic freedom” or “free expression” to excuse this hatred and allow it to fester.
We must speak the truth and pursue the peace that Yaron lived for. Yes, we must fight for peace — because this very threat, the brutal murder of innocent, beautiful Israeli and Jewish lives, even in the streets of the free world, is now our reality. May his memory, and Sarah’s, be not only a blessing but a call to action for all humanity.
Sabrina Soffer is a recent graduate of George Washington University and works with ISGAP in Washington, D.C.
The post I Knew Yaron Lischinsky Personally; This Is What the World Lost first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.