United Hatzalah, Israel’s volunteer emergency medical service, has built its reputation on providing rapid medical response free of charge to anyone in need. Its volunteers respond across the country, from city streets and highways to kibbutzim, villages and Arab communities.
That work is often associated with the organization’s name, which some assume reflects a strictly ultra-Orthodox identity. In a recent conversation with Jerusalem Post editor Zvika Klein, United Hatzalah founder and president Eli Beer called that perception inaccurate.
Beer said United Hatzalah’s volunteer corps includes Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze, as well as secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox Israelis. The organization also boasts a very active women's unit thanks to the Adele and Joel Sandberg Women's Initiative. Beer said the organization’s purpose is to unite people around the shared responsibility of saving lives.
He pointed to the story of Awad Darawshe z”l, a Muslim United Hatzalah volunteer who was murdered while serving as a medic during the October 7 attacks.
“He went in to save lives at the Nova festival,” Beer recalled. “He was there as a medic on call. He went in to save lives, and he was murdered by Hamas.”
For Beer, Darawshe's death reflects the broader identity of United Hatzalah: a network of volunteers from different backgrounds who respond to the same emergencies and treat the same patients.
When a call comes in, Beer said, the question is not who the patient is, or who the responder is. The question is who can get there fastest.
That, he said, is what “United” means.