CHOMBA MUSIKA
Lusaka
IN THE wake of the ongoing war in the Middle East, Israeli Ambassador to Zambia Ofra Farhi says Zambians, who include students in that country, are safe.
Ms Farhi, who is also Israeli Ambassador to Botswana and Zimbabwe, said Zambians, majority of whom are in Be’er sheva, are faring well as confirmed in a latest update.
On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Iran after weeks of military build-up.
In retaliation, Iran also launched a wave of missiles at Israel early yesterday, sending millions of residents into bomb shelters.
In an exclusive interview yesterday, Ms Farhi said Zambian students studying in Israel are safe.
“Their spirit is relatively high. We have 200 alumni of the students’ programme who arrived in Israel to work in Be’er Sheva [two years ago].
“We now have 50 to 100 students. Some are in Be’er Sheva, which has a little bit of [air raid] sirens and stuff, but they know what to do,” she said.
After a recent virtual update on the welfare of Zambian students in Israel, Ms Farhi said the learners are conspicuously at ease.
“I can show you pictures of how happy they are. I got pictures from the lady that is responsible for them, they went to visit them and they had a Zoom interaction.
You can look at the faces, they look very happy,” she said.
Ms Farhi said the students are adapting to the Israeli “resilient” spirit.
“I was told they are laughing within themselves that ‘if you come for a programme in Israel and you don’t experience this, you don’t graduate’,” she said.
And Ms Farhi said she supports President Hakainde Hichilema’s timely emphasis that “instability anywhere is instability everywhere”, which seeks to promote global peace.
“I think it is 100 percent true because we live in a global world today, and you cannot disconnect yourself from what is happening around the world,” Ms Farhi said.
She, however, said there is also need to broadly analyse the root cause of instability.
“Try and look at what is the source of the instability and not to look into it with a very narrow angle, like those who reject what is happening now from the United States and the Israeli side, thinking that those are the sources of the instability.
“It’s not like this. It’s a very long ongoing armed conflict that prevails over death and terror around the world,” she said.
Ms Farhi said it is therefore essential to ensure “stability everywhere” because it enhances bilateral cooperation among nations.
“We would love to have stability in our area and all around the world because then we will be able to concentrate even more in what we are doing now in countries like Zambia – the technical cooperation, delivering the Israeli know-hows,” she said.
