AUSTIN, Texas – University of Texas students studying abroad in Israel are heading home, but not everyone is fleeing the war. Some students have decided to stay and help with the humanitarian crisis.
“I don’t want to just run away. I want to help in any way I can,” said UT law student Oceane Maher from Austin. She arrived in Israel a week ago as an exchange student to study in Tel Aviv, but the war broke out over the weekend.
On Saturday morning, Oceane woke up to rocket alerts on her phone, which she knew were common in Israel, but this was different. “I didn’t realise the scale of it and as we got more and more information it became clear that this is not a normal conflict. This is a real war,” she said.
Grocery stores are packed as people stock up on food. In many cases, the shelves are already bare. Oceane’s videos show smoke billowing in the distance as bombs hit Tel Aviv.
“I think what’s happening right now is ultimately hurting both [sides]. Civilians are being murdered and taken hostage, and it’s not going to end well for either side,” Oceane said.
Instead of returning to Texas, she’s staying behind to raise money for civilians in the conflict zones. Her parents in Austin are watching it all unfold on social media from half a world away.
“I’m watching Instagram. She’s in a taxi full of supplies and she’s talking to the taxi driver about being from Texas and you’re like… maybe she’s going to a safer place than a military base right now,” said Oceane’s father, Tom Maher. He and Oceane’s mother tried to persuade her to come home on Saturday.
“She was pretty defiant about not wanting to come home,” Tom said. “She probably has the right temperament to be a lawyer,” he added. Tom said it wasn’t the first time they had tried to get their daughter out of a volatile conflict overseas. Last November, she was in Kurdistan for a work placement when violence broke out. This time, however, Oceane is determined to stay, despite constant mobile phone alerts about nearby missiles.
“She has to make a choice. We respect her choice, but that doesn’t mean we won’t try to persuade her to change it. At this point, our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who’s affected,” said Tom, who knows his daughter and her friends are driven by their passion for human rights.
“They’re all doing the right thing, of course, but when it comes to your child, principles go out the window. Are we proud of them? Of course we’re proud of them, but we spend a lot more time worrying about them,” he said.
“I don’t want to just sit at home and do nothing. I want to help in any way I can and I’m not a soldier, so that’s what I can do,” Oceane said.
