Dear Families,
Shadi Ibrahim is 21 years old and grew up in a small Druze village called Sajur in northern Israel. Like his brother, Shadi’s dream was to be an IDF combat soldier and do his part to protect Israeli citizens. Shadi made it into the IDF Armored Corps and until 14 days ago served with distinction. Two weeks ago, while he was on patrol near Hebron, a terrorist driving a car turned in Shadi’s direction and accelerated the engine to full speed. The driver struck Shadi, who hit the car so hard it was completely totaled. Shadi’s soldiers opened fire at the car and killed the terrorist, but Shadi was left fighting for his life. The attack came amid a rise in violence in the West Bank in recent weeks, following a relative lull amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Shadi was suffering from multisystem trauma and put into intensive care. One of the doctors who received him at Soroka Hospital was Dr. Assaf Danziger, an injured soldier himself and a BFL member! Assaf knew what Shadi and his family were facing from his own experience. Eleven years ago Assaf and his team were hit by an RPG while on a mission in Gaza and thankfully Assaf recovered and became an ER doctor who was now taking care of Shadi. After numerous surgeries, Shadi survived, though his leg had to be amputated below the knee.
What happened next shows you what Shadi and our chayalim are all about. When the media interviewed Shadi after his amputation surgery he simply said, “I feel good, I want to return to my soldiers. Nothing will break me.”
Nothing will break me.
There is nothing like the “Maamad HaLochamim”, the spirit of Israel’s combat soldiers. Shadi will have a long road ahead of him but he will make it back to his soldiers, and BFL has the honor and privilege to help him at every step along the way. As I mentioned above Shadi served his unit with distinction. Before his injury, Shadi was chosen by the IDF leadership to receive a special medal of bravery for his performance as a soldier over the past year. Yesterday at Soroka Hospital Shadi received his award from the Chief of Staff of the IDF General Aviv Cochavi.
Wishing you all a Chag Shavuot Sameach and Shabbat Shalom from Israel,
Yaniv