A new bullet-resistant Magen David Adom ambulance was inaugurated in Eli last week, in memory of two fallen IDF reservists and MDA volunteers, Staff Sgt. (res.) Nitai Meizels and Maj. (res.) Amishar Ben-David.
The ambulance was dedicated during a ceremony at Eli’s emergency center, and was attended by representatives of MDA, Friends of MDA in Israel, the Binyamin Regional Council, the Eli community, and the families of Meizels and Ben-David.
Nitai Meizels, from Beersheba, served as an armored corps soldier in the HaMahatz Brigade, and was 30 years old when he fell in combat in the Gaza Strip during the Swords of Iron War. Amishar Ben-David, from Eli, was an IDF combat officer who also fell in battle in Gaza during the war.
The ambulance was donated through a crowdfunding campaign launched by Meizel’s family, with the assistance of Friends of MDA in Israel.
Nitai Meizels’ brother, Aviad, who lives in Eli and volunteers with MDA, knew Ben-David through their voluntary work. After Ben-David fell, the family decided that the ambulance being donated in Meizels’s memory would also be dedicated to Ben-David, as acquiring a bullet-resistant ambulance for Eli had been one of Ben-David’s goals.
Meizels began volunteering with MDA as a youth volunteer in 2009 at the organization’s Rehovot station, where he served for around three years before attending a pre-military academy and later joining the Armored Corps. Around five years ago, he completed an EMT course and served shifts on ambulances and mobile intensive care units.
Ben-David began volunteering with MDA as a 10th-grade student, and later served as head of the volunteer team in Eli. He also worked as an ambulance driver and EMT. In addition to his MDA work, he was a high school educator.
'Its armor will protect patients'
Friends of MDA in Israel CEO Orly Ariel said at the ceremony that Meizels and Ben-David were from “different generations and different places,” but shared “the daily choice to dedicate their lives to others.”
Binyamin Regional Council Deputy Head Amichai Rahamim said the ambulance would help save lives in Eli and throughout the Binyamin region.
“Its armor, as a lesson from October 7, will protect patients and medical teams even in complex emergency situations,” Rahamim said.
MDA Director-General Eli Bin said Meizels and Ben-David represented the organization’s values of “giving, professionalism, and sacrifice,” and that the new ambulance is “a direct continuation of their work.”