A dozen Israeli mothers visited the UK last week as part of a healing trip arranged by the OneFamily Fund and Gift
Meirav Sudai’s son Sahar, a fighter in the Givati brigade, was just two months shy of his 21st birthday and his release from the army when he was killed by an RPG during a hostage rescue mission in Gaza.
“Before this situation I told him: ‘Please Sahar, you have two months until you’re released. Don’t go inside Gaza,’” Meirav said during a visit to London last week. “He told me: ‘I must do it – I have to get the hostages out. Who else will do it?’”
For five days, Meirav and a dozen other Israeli women whose sons have died in combat since October 7 came to London as part of a “mothers respite trip” facilitated by Gift and the OneFamily Fund, a nonprofit that assists victims of terrorist attacks in Israel.
The bereaved mothers were hosted by several Jewish families in north-west London and took part in an itinerary that included visits to Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, a spa day, and a performance of Mamma Mia in the West End. But the trip was also an opportunity for women who share a uniquely painful grief to meet one another and to engage with the local Jewish community, telling their stories, and their sons’ stories too.