He Came Back from the Dead & Saves Lives Across Israel: Special Interview with Founder Eli Beer, United Hatzolah; Thu. March. 26, 2026

·43 min·2 clips

Beer says he saw a bus explode as a child and later wanted to save “six million Jews.”

Shanna Fuld starts by setting the date and promising a quick news rundown. She then introduces Eli Beer as the founder and president of United Hatzalah. Beer explains that the idea for the organization began when he was six years old, after he saw a tragic accident that might have been prevented if help had arrived sooner. He says that by age 15 he was already volunteering as an EMT in Israel. United Hatzalah has since grown into one of the fastest response networks in the world, with more than 8,100 volunteers across Israel. The organization uses tools like ambu cycles and drones to reach patients within minutes and provide care regardless of background, whether Jewish, Christian, Druze, or Muslim. The interview keeps that mission grounded as something practical and personal. Fuld asks how the organization has been affected by the current war with Iran. Beer says that on a normal day they handle around 2,000 calls. He notes that many of those are accidents, including crashes during missile attacks or incidents caused by people rushing to shelter. He describes what he has seen in places like Arad, Dimona, Beit Shemesh, and Tel Aviv, where destruction and debris make the danger immediate. Beer says the stress of the situation is creating more accidents and more emergency calls. He estimates a 20 percent increase in calls tied either directly to missile attacks or to the broader strain of the war. He also explains that the organization is under pressure because some volunteers have been called into reserve military service. That means the usual five-closest-volunteers response model is harder to keep going. Other volunteers have to cover more calls, which adds cost and strain to the system. The conversation keeps coming back to the same point: speed matters, and so does having enough people ready to answer. The episode presents United Hatzalah as a volunteer network built for moments when minutes matter. It ends by returning to the show's broader rhythm of news, faith, and public life.

As heard by us

A clear, ground-level look at rescue work under pressure in Israel.

Eli Beer’s interview makes United Hatzalah feel less like a brand name and more like a working system under strain. The episode is at its strongest when it stays close to the mechanics of response: volunteer crews, ambu cycles, drones, and the recent rise in calls all come into…

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Hear how a volunteer rescue network handles emergency calls during war.

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