Testimony of a First Responder on October 7: Eli Beer, CEO of United Hatzalah

For Eli Beer, October 7 never ends. Eli personifies courage and power and principle and drive. Yet he looks and sounds broken. Listen to his voice; a whisper of what it was a month ago. His NGO, United Hatzalah, is a Jerusalem-based organization with more than 15,000 volunteers including trained medics, of all religions and ethnicities, who value human life. On Saturday, October 7, only United Hatzalah volunteers travelled deep into the heart of darkness, the area in southern Israel where thousands of Hamas terrorists went on a savage spree, torturing, raping, sodomizing, decapitating, dismembering, burning to death – any civilian or soldier who they came upon. This is the story of the heroism of Eli Beer and his civilian volunteers who went into this Hell to save anyone they could. Meeting last week with a group of Republican Jewish leaders in the United States, Eli disclosed for the first time one of the more macabre incidents of October 7 – when his people found the charred body of a baby who had been put in an oven and baked to death. I did not have the heart to ask him to repeat that horror today, but you should know. You should know everything. We all should. It is our duty as civilized beings. We do. Oy have the luxury of looking away. Saying: “I didn’t know.” Because this war on the Jews is just the beginning. Hamas and its allies – Iran, Hizballah, Houthis and more – have the same plans for all infidels. Everywhere. Eli also has some choice words for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has distinguished himself throughout this crisis as a man peculiarly detached from this attack on Israel and Jewish people everywhere, including in Canada. I have seen much and spoken with many. This interview with Eli was among the most difficult I have done. Please listen. It's the least we can do.

Below is a link to an article I wrote in March, 2022, for the National Post newspaper in Canada immediately following a United Hatzalah mission in which I participated to support Ukrainian refugees in Moldova. It helps you to understand what exceptional work United Hatzalah does. Not just in Israel and not just for Jews.