Lischinsky’s coffin arrived in Israel on Friday and was received by representatives of the family and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a brief, private ceremony at the airport, according to a ministry statement.
Israelis were outraged by the killing of Lischinsky and Milgrim but many said that amid the global rising tide of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment they saw such an attack coming.
“The people of Israel have been attacked for thousands of years,” said Israel Perel, 83, who moved to Beit Zayit five decades ago, seeking a home in nature.
“We won’t give in to those who want to do us harm,” he said, speaking outside the community’s small administrative centre on Sunday afternoon. He had come looking for an Israeli flag to take with him to Lischinsky’s funeral.
In the intense late afternoon heat, hundreds of people began to stream towards the cemetery in a pine forest on the edge of the village for the funeral scheduled for 6pm.
Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, attended the ceremony and gave one of the eulogies.
Milgrim and Lischinsky were gunned down on Wednesday night outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington as they left a reception for young professionals and diplomats.Credit: @IsraelinUSA/Twitter
Lischinsky, an outstanding student who had grown up in Germany and Israel, was a deeply committed Israeli patriot and had aspired to become a professional diplomat for his country, according to his teachers and colleagues.
After his burial, his close family tarried by the fresh grave, covered in wreaths of flowers, until darkness fell as long lines of mourners embraced them and offered words of comfort, according to some people in attendance.
Lischinsky came from a culturally mixed background with a Jewish father and a Christian mother, and was a practising Christian, according to his brother, Hanan Lischinsky, 32. People who had worked with Lischinsky in the embassy said that over his last two years there, he had identified as Jewish.
The funeral service blended religious traditions and elements. A leader of the Hebrew-speaking King of Kings congregation of Jerusalem – part of a Messianic community that says its mission is to reveal the true face of Jesus to Israel – officiated alongside representatives of the Orthodox Jewish burial society.
On Monday, Saar was expected to host US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem in Jerusalem, followed by joint statements together with the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. Afterwards, the foreign ministry said in a statement, a memorial ceremony would be held in honour of Lischinsky and Milgrim, and a tree would be planted in their memory.
Milgrim’s funeral is scheduled to take place on Tuesday near the Kansas City suburb where she grew up.
Lischinsky’s family never got to meet her.
