After the end of Year 12 in high school, I was too young to enter university so I looked for a Gap Year programme that my parents would be happy with. The best was a youth leadership course in Israel, with six months of lectures and six months working on kibbutz.
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So what is the connection to Nepal? There are currently 4,500 Nepali nationals working as caregivers in Israel, and a total of 265 Nepali students studying in Israel under the 11-month Learn and Earn Programme funded by the Israeli government. Of them, 119 are from Agriculture and Forestry University, 97 from Tribhuvan University and 49 from Sudur Paschim University in Western Nepal, all of them bachelor-level students of agriculture.
I’d not heard of a gap year programme for agricultural university students in Israel, but it made perfect sense. Israel has been a world leader in agricultural research and practice since WW1 ended. So it will not surprise us that 17 students from Sudur Paschim University were working in Kibbutz Alumim in southern Israel, enthusiastically gaining training they may not have had available at home.
But then Hamas let loose thousands of killing machines in Southern Israel on Saturday, and sent dozens of killers into settlements near the Gaza Strip. Hamas killed citizens and visitors by rockets, chopping off heads, taking young people as hostages into Gaza, and shooting others in the back.
Out of the 17 Nepali teens and early 20s in the kibbutz, 10 were massacred by Hamas, four were injured and sadly one is still missing. Only two, who are still under police protection, were left uninjured. Nepal's ambassador in Jerusalem had to inform the devastated parents of the massacre and report it to the Government.
The embassy had to try to identify the students’ body parts located after the massacre. The bodies will taken back to Nepal soon after identification is completed and returned to their parents for funerals and memorials. A coordination meeting formed under the leadership of Foreign Minister N.P Saud is operating at his Ministry to identify all Nepalese nationals in Israel and to make efforts for rescue these nationals if they choose to. Foreign Minster Saud reported it was collaborating with the Israeli government and the embassy in Tel Aviv to find planes go fly home, the Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.
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The minister said Foreign Affairs has directed the Nepali Embassy in Israel to locate all Nepalis, inform them of the situation and urge them to follow safety instructions and rules issued by the Israeli government. In the meantime, the Israeli government is providing all medical and surgical care required by the injured Nepalese citizens at a local hospital. This is especially urgent since death and injured tolls in Israel WILL rise as a large number of people have been badly wounded. The Nepalese embassy is coordinating with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on how the dead bodies can be repatriated after examination, Nepal’s ambassador in Israel told the Post. Meantime the parents in Nepal, 5000 ks away, are mourning their young sons and daughters in silence. I am a mother but I cannot even imagine their pain.
The Nepalese are rightly devastated. Various political parties in Nepal have asked the government to take diplomatic initiatives to rescue and repatriate Nepalis. Issuing a statement, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba urged the government to ascertain the exact number of Nepalis in Israel and ensure their safety. The Opposition Party urged friendly nations, international human rights organisations, International Organisation for Migration and International Committee of the Red Cross, to support repatriating Nepalis working in Israel and still in danger of Hamas murders.
One day after the massacre, all Nepali university students in Israel were shifted to secured and secret locations.
Agricultural university students from Nepal at Tel Aviv airport 2023.
Welcomed by the Israeli ambassador to Nepal
Global Voices
So what is the connection to Nepal? There are currently 4,500 Nepali nationals working as caregivers in Israel, and a total of 265 Nepali students studying in Israel under the 11-month Learn and Earn Programme funded by the Israeli government. Of them, 119 are from Agriculture and Forestry University, 97 from Tribhuvan University and 49 from Sudur Paschim University in Western Nepal, all of them bachelor-level students of agriculture.
I’d not heard of a gap year programme for agricultural university students in Israel, but it made perfect sense. Israel has been a world leader in agricultural research and practice since WW1 ended. So it will not surprise us that 17 students from Sudur Paschim University were working in Kibbutz Alumim in southern Israel, enthusiastically gaining training they may not have had available at home.
But then Hamas let loose thousands of killing machines in Southern Israel on Saturday, and sent dozens of killers into settlements near the Gaza Strip. Hamas killed citizens and visitors by rockets, chopping off heads, taking young people as hostages into Gaza, and shooting others in the back.
Out of the 17 Nepali teens and early 20s in the kibbutz, 10 were massacred by Hamas, four were injured and sadly one is still missing. Only two, who are still under police protection, were left uninjured. Nepal's ambassador in Jerusalem had to inform the devastated parents of the massacre and report it to the Government.
The embassy had to try to identify the students’ body parts located after the massacre. The bodies will taken back to Nepal soon after identification is completed and returned to their parents for funerals and memorials. A coordination meeting formed under the leadership of Foreign Minister N.P Saud is operating at his Ministry to identify all Nepalese nationals in Israel and to make efforts for rescue these nationals if they choose to. Foreign Minster Saud reported it was collaborating with the Israeli government and the embassy in Tel Aviv to find planes go fly home, the Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.
Nepal sends plane to evacuate citizens from war-hit Israel
Kathmandu Post
The Nepalese are rightly devastated. Various political parties in Nepal have asked the government to take diplomatic initiatives to rescue and repatriate Nepalis. Issuing a statement, Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba urged the government to ascertain the exact number of Nepalis in Israel and ensure their safety. The Opposition Party urged friendly nations, international human rights organisations, International Organisation for Migration and International Committee of the Red Cross, to support repatriating Nepalis working in Israel and still in danger of Hamas murders.
One day after the massacre, all Nepali university students in Israel were shifted to secured and secret locations.