On November 22, 2023, Chantal and Nicky Young closed their front door in London for the final time and boarded a flight to Israel.
Family members were waiting at arrivals in Tel Aviv with a sign saying, “Welcome home Grandma and Grandpa.” One person who wasn’t there, however, was the youngest of their five children: Nathanel.
The 20-year-old was murdered by Hamas on October 7. Two years previously he’d made Aliyah – the term for Jewish immigration to Israel, which translates as “ascendance” – and was serving with the Israel Defense Forces on the Gaza border.
“Nathanel’s dream had been for us to make Aliyah. He’d been looking for a property for us,” his…
