‘We have to be where Nathanel is buried’: parents of murdered 20-year-old sergeant make aliyah

The parents of Nathanel Young, killed in action with the IDF on the first day of Israel’s war with Hamas, made aliyah this week.

Chantal and Nicky Young, who had lived in the tight-knit community of Cockfosters and Southgate for more than 40 years, were due to land in Israel on Wednesday morning.

Three of their adult children — Gaby, Elliot and Daniel — already live in Israel. Another daughter is still in the UK. The couple have four grandchildren and another four are expected soon.

Mrs Young, a chef by profession, told Jewish News: “We were always going to make aliyah anyway, but what made us more confident that we were doing the right thing was what happened to Nathanel. We just couldn’t be anywhere else now — we have to be where he is [Sergeant Young is buried in Jerusalem] and where he fought for.”

She acknowledged the  her husband had not previously been “100 per cent” behind the idea. “But now we just couldn’t think of anywhere else. We have to be in Israel.”

Mrs Young, speaking on the eve of departure from London, said she had been looking at a picture of her late son that morning. “Nathanel would have been so excited for us,” she said, “he so wanted us to come to Israel. He would have been phoning us and making sure we had everything we need.”

Initially, home for the Youngs will be in Ramat Poleg, south of Netanya, while they decide where to settle down. Mr Young has been working as a courier driver and formerly worked in a bank, but both are “open to suggestions” as to what they might do in Israel.

Mrs Young added: “Nathanel’s love of Israel convinced us that this was the right thing to do, he was the driving force behind our decision.”

Last week Nathanel’s sister, Gaby, spoke of her “absolutely sickening and horrific” experience when a ceremony she was addressing on-line was hacked and daubed with swear words and a “Free Palestine” slogan.

Ms Young had been invited by the Lone Soldier Centre in Memory of Michael Levin to speak in a ceremony honouring lone soldiers who died in the terror attacks. In all, seven family members were due to speak.

She said: “My biggest worries were having to speak in Hebrew (not my first language) and not welling up with tears on screen”. But as the ceremony began on Zoom, what Ms Young called “an imbecilic hacker who went by the name ‘David’ started scribbling vulgarities on the screen, followed by the appearance of a huge swastika over Nathaniel’s picture – a giant FREE PALESTINE sign also materialised during a memorial prayer”.

She told Jewish News that the organisers immediately ended the session and a new link was sent out about 10 minutes later, enabling those present to pay tribute to their loved ones who had died in the service of Israel. But she said that far fewer people were able to attend the second event, because the new link was not as widely circulated, and friends of Nathanel who had hoped to pay tribute were unable to attend the session.