ICJA students welcome residents of Nir Oz
On Monday, October 27, ICJA, ICJA students welcomed residents of Nir Oz, an Israeli kibbutz that was devastated by Hamas on October 7, 2023. All of our visitors are residents who have returned to Nir Oz and are working to rebuild the village. Thank you to Ron Bahat, Yuval Bazer, Liat Algaresi, and Ola Metzger for visiting, guided by JUF representatives Ofer Bavly, Director General of the JUF’s Israel office, and Elissa Polan, the JUF’s Assistant VP, Overseas Programs & Projects. Students learned that the JUF in Chicago has a special relationship with Nir Oz, and is aiding in rebuilding efforts there.
Members of the Israel Advocacy Club ate lunch with the visitors, followed by a moving all-school assembly. Students learned how Nir Oz was established in 1955 as a Nahal kibbutz and saw pictures and videos of the kibbutz’s early days. Students them heard about Hamas’ 2023 attack, which left approximately one quarter of the kibbutz’s 416 murdered or kidnapped. (About one third of all the hostages were taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz, including the Bibas family and Oded Lifshitz.) Ola Metzger recalled that her parents in law were both kidnapped by Hamas; her father-in-law was murdered in captivity. The visitors described being evacuated after the attack, first to a hotel in Eilat, then to the town of Kiryat Gat. Yuval Bazer, the youngest of the visitors at 24, described how he and a friend returned to Nir Oz just a few weeks after the attack, and began clearing up the kibbutz and caring for the kibbutz’s 4,000 acres of fields.
Students learned that today, scores of people live in Nir Oz, including both established residents who have returned, and over 70 young people who decided to move to the kibbutz and help rebuild. “The murdered us, they kidnapped us, they destroyed us, and we will come back better than before,” explained Yuval Bazer, who returned to live in Nir Oz. The visitors thanked ICJA students and the wider Chicago community for showing solidarity with them, and encouraged students to visit or even settle one day in Nir Oz.
