NEW YORK – Over the past several days since Israel launched its first strike on Iran on June 13th, United Hatzalah volunteers have been seen rushing to disaster sites, but one person who has been notably absent at the ongoing rescue efforts is the organization’s CEO – Eli Beer. Like so many others who traveled abroad, either to or from Israel, Beer is currently in New York and with Israel’s airspace closed indefinitely, he has no way to return home.
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Beer was in New York last week for United Hatzalah’s 2025 gala, which drew a crowd of hundreds of supporters. Addressing those gathered at Cipriani Wall Street for the June 11th event, the night’s special guest speaker and lead honoree Steve Witkoff, United States special envoy to the Middle East uttered words that turned out to be nearly prophetic saying, “Iran must never be permitted to enrich uranium and reach nuclear capabilities.”
While Beer was scheduled to head back to Israel on the night of June 12th, his wife Gitty took an earlier fight. Her plane was over England when the pilot announced that their flight was being re-routed.
“He said ‘we’re so sorry to let you know that Israel attacked Iran and the airspace of Israel is shut down and we’re going to have to back to New York,” said Beer. “And you know how everyone responded? They were so happy they all started applauding.”
While Beer remains in close contact with United Hatzalah even from afar, he expressed full confidence in his team in Israel who are managing the organization while he remains in New York. He noted that he has no doubt that with its nuclear capabilities growing, Iran’s plan to annihilate Israel was rapidly coming to fruition.
“They were planning a holocaust,” said Beer. “They wanted to destroy everyone, kill everyone in Israel.”
Beer noted that many people in Israel are suffering right now, with 25 Israelis killed and as many as 600 injured. Businesses are closed, weddings are being postponed, and even funeral plans are being affected. But those difficulties, as painful as they are, are nothing compared to what Iran had been hoping to accomplish.
“Imagine if in 1941 America would have done to Hitler what Israel just did to Iran,” said Beer. “We would have six million more Jews still living.”
United Hatzalah’s volunteers have been working night and day, making sure that their families are safe before they respond to attacks. Beer noted that his members are fully aware of the dangers they potentially face as they respond to every call, their protective vests and helmets woefully inadequate against the missiles that have rained down on Israel.
“The first thing they do when they get to a scene is to plan their own lifesaving,” explained Beer. “They have to know where to run to if ballistic missiles hit the same area twice. We know that Al Jazeera has spies in Israel, showing the exact locations of missile strikes so the Iranians know exactly where they are.”
Beer described the site of a missile strike in Bat Yam as terrible, noting that his volunteers dug hours to rescue victims.
“We didn’t expect there to be so many hurt and killed, and there were children who were killed,” said Beer. “We rescued a baby that was a few months old and a two year old baby. We didn’t know how long it would take to rescue everyone and it ended up taking almost 30 hours to get everyone out.”
Rescue efforts in Petach Tikva and Bnei Brak were equally disheartening, with fatalities and injuries reported. With buildings in older areas not having on-site safe rooms, getting everyone into a secure area can be challenging and United Hatzalah volunteers have stepped up when alerts go out, escorting the elderly and families with many small children to safety.
United Hatzalah’s new emergency room on wheels, donated by the Ruderman family and officially dedicated on June 4th, has been pressed into service during the ongoing crisis. With four regular treatment beds, two ICU beds, a smart triage system, and cutting edge medical equipment, Hatzalah on Wheels’ capacity is double that of a conventional ambulance, and allows medical teams to provide effective care on the spot.
Also being pressed into service over the last few days is United Hatzalah’s psycho-trauma unit, whose 25 specially trained dogs have been an effective tool in treating those having difficulty coping with the current realities, including soldiers and police officers.
Since October 7th, United Hatzalah has responded to 1.3 million emergencies, many of which have been life and death situations. Beer estimated that with United Hatzalah operating in war mode over the past few days, its budget has soared to $100,000 a day, prompting the kickoff of a $5 million emergency fundraiser.
“I’m very, very proud of our volunteers,” said Beer, telling of one United Hatzalah member who was on an ambulance when he learned that his home in Rechovot had been hit by a missile strike. Racing to his house, the volunteer was able to rescue his own son who was trapped inside.
“They’re incredible, every one of them,” added Beer. “Right now, we’re dealing with a situation where you never know what’s going to happen from one minute to the next. In the last three days, 25 people have been killed and there have been many, many injuries, so we have to be on the highest alert. We definitely need the public’s support because this has taken a very big financial toll on us.”
Donate to United Hatzalah’s rescue efforts by clicking here
Hopefully he can use Hatzolah Air to get home quickly.
The statement attributed to Eli Beer in this article, about what might have been if the USA attacked Hitler in 1941, was in error. The USA was in no position in 1941 to act offensively, since at that time, the USA was very weak militarily. Even after the attack on Pearl Harbor, it took the U.S. Navy six months to act offensively at the battle of Midway,. People don’t seem to realize that in 1941, the USA had a very small army, which was very ill equipped, with left over weapons from World War One. It had a very small air corps, with only a few combat aircraft, very few tanks, artillery, and other weapons of war. It wasn’t until after Pearl Harbor, that the USA began to build up its military. Even so, that build up of our armed forces took a long time (from less than 100,000 troops, to over 12,000,000 troops). German U-boats were shelling and sinking USA merchant marine ships right off the coasts of New Jersey and Long Island, for over one year, and seamen were dying. It wasn’t until the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard were effectively able to track and sink U-boats in 1943, that the East Coast was protected against the scourge of enemy submarines.