Nancy Tembo wipes away her tears at the meeting with family members of Israeli hostages as captured by Jerusalem Post
* Promised to assist in the efforts to return the Israeli hostages held by Hamas since October last year
* Agreeing to Israeli foreign minister Katz’s request to push for their release on international discussions, conditioning a ceasefire on their release
* Tembo quoted as saying she has “never seen such inhumane acts as there were on October 7 – Malawi prays for the hostages”
By Duncan Mlanjira
Just before the official launch of the Malawi Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz hosted his counterpart from Malawi, Nancy Tembo to meet with the families of the hostages Hamas militants took and whilst there, Tembo pronounced that Malawi “will continue to support Israel even when all the others don’t”.
Advertisement
A report by Jerusalem Post online published yesterday, says Katz and Tembo met with the families of the hostages, Carmel Gat; Or Levy and Daniel Peretz where the Israeli foreign minister is quoted as saying: “195 days have passed since October 7. We must return all of the 133 hostages held by Hamas, and we are working in every possible way to bring them back home.
“We are at a critical time after Hamas’ refusal to the proposal brought by the mediators,” he is quoted as saying, while stressing the importance of pressuring Hamas to return the hostages without being pressured into a ceasefire first.
The Jerusalem Post report says Tembo “listened to stories told by the family members of the hostages and saw pictures of them and then promised to assist in the efforts to return the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, agreeing to Katz’s request to push for their release on international discussions, conditioning a ceasefire on their release”.
After hearing their stories, Tembo is quoted as saying: “We will continue to support Israel even when all the others don’t” and added that all of the hostages must be returned, saying she has “never seen such inhumane acts as there were on October 7. Malawi prays for the hostages.”
The report said Michael, hostage Or Levy’s brother, said Or was kidnapped from the Supernova music festival party, “his wife Einav was murdered, and their two-year-old son Almog was left alone”.
Carmel Gat’s cousin Gil said to Tembo that Carmel was kidnapped from Be’eri after a two-month-long trip to India: “Hostages that returned told us that she is still alive,” said Gil, “but we are running out of time. They must return as soon as possible since time is killing them in captivity.”
Doron, Daniel’s father, shared that his son’s body is still in Gaza, held by Hamas: “He saved many in Nir Oz and was kidnapped from inside his tank by terrorists. The soldiers cannot be left behind. They must be a part of any deal.”
Tembo and his delegation of Minister of Labour, Agnes Nyalonje and Minister of Information & Digitalisation, Moses Kunkuyu were following up of diplomatic mission to Israel that was started in 2020 through former Foreign Minister, Eisenhower Mkaka.
Jerusalem Post reports that during Mkaka’s visit, he met with Prime Minister Netanyahu and then Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, who emphasized Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera’s intention to establish a permanent embassy in Israel.
It was fulfilled yesterday with Tembo, Katz and Minister of Interior, Moshe Arbel, who attended to sign an agreement to pilot a program to bring approximately 3,000 agricultural workers to Israel.
A report by Marawi News Agency (MANA) filed from Tel Aviv, says when Israel’s Minister of Labour, Yoaz Ben Tzur met the Malawi delegation at Sheraton Hotel, he expressed satisfaction with Malawian workers.
Tzur is quoted as saying: “As we already have hundreds of workers from Malawi working in the agriculture sector, we are satisfied with their work. Our ministry will ensure that employees from Malawi are well taken care of, have good housing, safety, good labour conditions, just like any other worker in Israel.”
Cementing the deal of exporting agricultural labour
The MANA report says echoing the many voices of Israel government officials, Tzur commended Malawians for not succumbing to pressure of not supporting Israel: “We’re also delighted that you did not succumb to pressure from all over the world because of your strong collective will and belief in us.”
On her part, Malawi’s Minister of Labour, Agnes NyaLonje is quoted saying: “Our huge resource is the youthful population we have. If we can educate, train, and empower our youth, we believe that they can be an incredible source of skilled labour on the market.”
Meanwhile, Israel has pledged to support Malawi’s candidature at the United Nations (UN) of Justice Fiona Mwale to the Committee on the Rights of Child and that of Boniface Massah to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Justice Mwale (top) and Massah
A report on Malawi Government Facebook page quotes Katz as saying in recognition of Malawi’s support to Israel when the country experienced a massacre of Israeli’s by Hamas militants on October 7 at an annual music festival and some kibbutz in southern Israel.
Charge d’Affaires is David Bisnowaty (left)
Interestingly, the Embassy which will be led by Consul of the Republic of Malawi in the State of Israel, Nir Guess while the Embassy’s Charge d’Affaires is David Bisnowaty — former Member of Malawi Parliament representing Lilongwe City Centre Constituency, who is an Israeli by birth.
Advertisement