War Refugees Who Found a Home in Israel Are Now Preparing to Serve in the IDF

Twenty-four teenagers who fled a war zone in Eastern Europe will finish high school this week at WIZO Nahalal Youth Village with Israeli matriculation certificates and citizenship, four years after arriving in Israel in the middle of the night with only small bags and no Hebrew. They came as part of a complex rescue operation run by the NALA program and the Settlement Education Administration, and many initially believed the move was temporary until the war ended.

The group arrived over several weeks, sometimes with only a few hours' warning before being taken from home. Some had no chance to say goodbye to friends, and others did not know where they were going. For the school, this was not standard immigrant absorption, but a trauma-filled challenge that required rebuilding their sense of safety, belonging, and routine.

Several of the students now plan to enlist in the IDF. Asia, 18, said her mother told her to pack on the first day of the war, and that she landed in Israel at 1 a.m. the next day. She said she could not understand the language or what was happening, but that Israel became her new home. She is due to enlist in September and hopes to serve in the IDF Spokesperson's Unit. On October 7, she said, she was angry at claims that Jews were to blame and wants to help change that reality.

Olesya, also 18, said she once thought she would not enlist, but later realized how much the country had given her, including security, support, and a different future. Yegor said the situation in Israel could not be compared with the war in Eastern Europe, because there they hid in train stations and other public places, while in Israel they had a protected room and a caring staff. He plans to study aeronautical and space engineering through the academic reserve program. WIZO Nahalal principal Galia Elf called the students “true heroes,” and NALA head Yeshayahu Yechieli said the organization is proud of the 22,000 students who have come to Israel through the program and contributed through the army, higher education, the economy, and family life in Israel.