Aryeh Myers from Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s National EMS organization and National Blood Services, shared a vital perspective on the Israel-Hamas conflict in exclusive comments to PJ Media.
Myers began by comparing the massacre of Oct. 7 to America’s 9/11 for context, noting that percentage-wise, what “Israel experienced [with] over 1200 people killed, you're talking about multiple, multiple, multiple September 11s at the same time on a tiny country.” America has never been the same since 9/11, and the same, of course, is true of Israel post-Oct. 7. From there he discussed the tragedies and life-saving work not only on and just after Oct. 7 but also throughout these two years of war that took such a toll on Israel.
Because of the mass casualties on Oct. 7, 2023, “from the very, very first moments we were exposed to and having to deal with a huge scale of injuries, of ambulances and ambulance crews under threat of rocket fire, of missile fire, of terrorists carrying weapons in the streets,” Myers told me.
On that day alone, MDA lost “seven of our members of staff and staff and volunteers [who] were killed by the Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, directly targeted whilst they were treating civilians.” He explained, “They were killed in clinics that we set up. They were killed in — while driving very clearly marked ambulances that were directly targeted. And nevertheless, this organization had to ensure that we were able to respond to everything that was happening across Israel.”
He later told me, “We've seen documents that show that [Hamas terrorists] wanted to take MDA out of the equation. They wanted to take over Magen David Adom stations. They wanted to attack ambulances. It was part of their manifesto.” The goal was not only to kill and injure as many Israelis as possible, but to make it impossible for them to receive medical aid.
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But MDA not only had to deal with on the ground attacks, but also the periodic or — during some times — near-constant rocket attacks across the country. “It took a huge toll on our staff and volunteers, but they were still prepared to go out and do whatever they can in order to save lives,” he said. “We had every single emergency vehicle … manned for months on end. Normally, we'll have about a quarter of our fleets approximately will be on shift at any given time, but for months and months, whether that was from Oct. 7, whether it was throughout the Iranian attacks just now in June, it meant that we had every single vehicles manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to ensure that we could provide a response to the entire country.”
He cited the Iranian missile attack on Bat Yam, the worst such strike of the war, when MDA “had to send 200 ambulances just to that one scene. And our normal … shift would have about 400 ambulances on shift across the entire country. And if we were to send 200 of those ambulances just to one location in central Israel, that means we would decimate the response anywhere else across the country. But because we manned every single emergency vehicle, and we're talking about … over 2000 vehicles, we were still able to provide a response, not only to the missile attacks, not only to the war situation.” Because, of course, such attacks occur while all the ordinary emergencies of life, such as heart attacks and car accidents, occurred, and needed responses, too.
In discussing the sobering realities of a nation at war with Islamic terrorists who deliberately target civilians, Myers emphasized, “It’s important to note that all of our ambulances, as standard equipment, have flak jackets and have bulletproof helmets always on the ambulance.”
He was among the MDA staff and volunteers “who headed to the south of Israel during the first …start of the war on Oct. 7, and who headed to the scenes of these missile attacks throughout the last 22 months, especially throughout the Iranian attacks.” He was was at the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, which was “struck by a missile” from Iran.
Of course, first responders know “we face a certain element of risk, [but] first of all, it really should be emphasized that Magen David Adom was directly targeted by the Hamas terrorists,” Myers told me. “The fact that we have to even think about the concept that we have bulletproof ambulances in a civilian setting, the fact that we have to have that just shows the complexities of what it is that we have to respond to, many areas that we have to respond to, and nevertheless, we have a huge dedicated team.”
He praised the thousands of MDA employees and tens of thousands of volunteers who “are willing to take that risk to go and save the life of somebody they probably never met before and will probably never meet again.” Hamas pours resources into ending lives, while Israel pours resources into saving them.
Check back on PJ Media for more exclusive commentary from Aryeh Myers.
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