But the man who murdered Yaron and Sarah in cold blood Wednesday night wants nothing to do with peace. After shooting Yaron and Sarah at point-blank range, 30-year-old Chicago native Elias Rodriguez entered the Capital Jewish Museum wearing a red-checkered keffiyeh shouting, “Free, free Palestine!” before adding, “I did it for Gaza.” Apparently, Rodriguez is ignorant — not only about Jews but also the fact that the keffiyeh he was wearing was NOT Palestinian, but Jordanian.

Just hours before murdering Yaron and Sarah, Rodriguez posted a manifesto to social media titled “Escalate For Gaza, Bring The War Home” and demanded “armed action” against Jews.

Rodriguez’s social media posts show the murderer has been advocating for violence against Jews for years. In 2023, his posts celebrated the October 7 massacre. “What more evidence is needed that the colony and its recalcitrant will have to be totally extirpated by the end of all this,” Rodriguez posted. Extirpated, by definition, is “to root out and destroy completely.”

Rodriguez also had a slew of other Jew-hating posts, including “Happy New Year, Death to Israel,” “D@ath to Amerikkka,” and a post with nothing but emojis of a butcher knife, a pig, and the Israeli flag, among others.

“He was a mensch,” says David Boskey of his slain friend, Yaron Lischinsky. “Mensch” is a Yiddish term that means a person of high integrity and honor.

David and Yaron become friends at Melech Ha’Mlachin. Yaron, according to David, was “soft-spoken, but not timid. Always smiling. Always volunteering.”

Sarah was born and raised outside Kansas City, Missouri. Her family attends Congregation B’nai Jehudah, a Reform synagogue. Sarah was a teenager when white supremacists murdered three people at the Jewish Community Center in her town. When swastikas were later scrawled throughout her high school, Sarah told news stations, “I worry about going to my synagogue and now I have to worry about safety at my school, and that shouldn’t be a thing.”

Yaron and Sarah were scheduled to return to Israel on Sunday night. Yaron had just bought an engagement ring and had planned to ask Sarah to marry him shortly after they arrived in Jerusalem.

But instead of a wedding ceremony, their families are now planning the young couple’s funeral. Rabbis in Washington, DC gathered at the scene of the murder early Thursday morning to clean Yaron and Sarah’s blood from the concrete. The blood was carefully bagged, as is Jewish custom, and will be buried with the couple, after which their families will “sit shiva,” mourning, fasting, and praying for seven days.

Please join me in praying for Yaron and Sarah’s families. Please pray, too, that the senseless and evil attempts to eradicate Jews will finally end.

Help us end this evil antisemitism.

May Yaron and Sarah’s memory be a blessing.

Mat Staver
Chairman
Christians in Defense of Israel

Sources:

Cohen, Benyamin. “‘He Was a Mensch’: Slain Messianic Jew Remembered as Bridge-Builder.” Forward, May 22, 2025. Forward.com/news/722632/yaron-lischinsky-dc-shooting-messianic-jew/.

‌Heller, Mathilda. “‘I did it for Gaza': Who is Elias Rodriguez, far-left activist who murdered two Israelis?” The Jerusalem Post, May 22, 2025. JPost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-855018.

‌Pritchett, Elizabeth. “Two Israeli Diplomats Shot, Killed during Event at Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC.” Fox News, May 22, 2025. Foxnews.com/us/two-israeli-diplomats-shot-killed-event-capital-jewish-museum-washington-dc.

Rosenfeld, Arno. “Manifesto Posted on Social Media Account Tied to Suspected Jewish Museum Shooter, Who Called to ‘Bring the War Home.’” Forward, May 22, 2025. Forward.com/news/722545/elias-rodriguez-manifesto-dc-shooting/.

Ward, Jasper. “2 Israeli Embassy Staffers Shot Dead in Downtown Washington, Lone Suspect Held.” Ksl.com. May 22, 2025. KSL.com/article/51317532/2-israeli-embassy-staffers-shot-dead-in-downtown-washington-lone-suspect-held.