Americans Rush to Israel to Volunteer in Hospitals, Fill Vacant Jobs

By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

The war in Gaza began on Oct. 7th, when the Hamas terror organization launched a surprise attack killing 1,200 Israelis and taking over 240 hostages, including children and elderly.  Since then, the State Department has issued a statement warning people not to travel to Gaza, and to reconsider traveling to Israel and the West Bank “due to terrorism and civil unrest.”  Despite this dismal travel advisory, people have been flocking to Israel, hoping to help.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, despite the obvious risk, people are still choosing to go to Israel, with noble intentions including studying in religious institutions, joining the Israel Defense Forces as a reserve, and volunteering to fill jobs vacated due to the war. Nonprofit organizations have stepped up allowing people to enlist as a volunteer in Israel for a few weeks.

With Israel’s regular workers and young men drafted to the army, the country has been ailing to fill the void and find people who can work at hospitals, or keep up production and farming, among other jobs.  Per the WSJ, the Emergency Volunteers Project, a disaster-relief organization that coordinates with the IDF and Israeli fire departments, has been working to fly dozens of volunteers into Israel since Oct. 7.  Volunteers have included medical personnel, firefighters, emergency responders, farmers, among others.

The organization has been hard at work vetting candidates and making sure they have the experience or skills needed.  Once a candidate gets approved, it’s up to them to clear their schedule, usually for a two-week span in Israel.  Emergency Volunteers Project volunteers often have little notice as to when they will actually be deployed, many times receiving tickets for a flight just a day in advance, said Scott Goldstein, a director with the Emergency Volunteers Project.

One of the volunteers was Dr. Dov Frankel.  He caught a last-minute flight from Newark Airport to Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport. He had driven in from Baltimore, where he works as an emergency-room physician.  He had to work 12 straight shifts, before he left, to clear his schedule for the next two weeks.  Frankel was eager to volunteer at Barzilai Medical Center, a hospital in Ashkelon, Israel, which has been overwhelmed treating patients who sustained injuries during the savage Oct. 7th Hamas killing spree.

“I think my entire life was created for this moment,” said Frankel, 50.  He said that when he arrived at Barzilai, he was so quickly immersed in treating patients that he didn’t initially even have time to change out of his civilian clothes.  “Our job was to take care of the wounded soldiers and Palestinians,” Frankel said, adding that Palestinian patients from Gaza were also welcomed and equally treated. He told the WSJ that he tried to put them at ease by speaking the few Arabic words he knows, like “Hello, how are you?” and “Where is it hurting?”

Dr. Barry Hahn, another emergency-room physician who volunteered from the US, said he was inundated with the prevalent number of shrapnel wounds he saw during his time there.

Similarly, Dr. Anne Montal, a surgical resident at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, headed to Barzilai hospital.  The 36-year-old volunteered with the Jewish Orthodox Women’s Medical Association.  “I don’t feel as helpless now that I’m going to do something,” she told the WSJ.