Responding to Terror with Grit and Grace: The Medics Who Never Back Down
By AFMDA January 28, 2026
The six-year-old boy ran up to a police officer. “There are terrorists,” he sobbed. “My father is dead.” His father, Yonatan Havakuk, was one of three men hacked to death by terrorists with an axe and a knife during an attack just as an Independence Day celebration was ending in central Israel. MAGEN DAVID ADOM, Israel’s emergency services organization, had multiple ambulances on the scene within minutes. Teams of paramedics and EMTs began treating the four other people who had been seriously wounded by the terrorists. Two were critically injured. As soon as the four victims had been stabilized, they were transported to local hospitals. All three of the men killed in the brutal attack were fathers — they left behind a total of 16 children. A week or so earlier, a terrorist with a gun had opened fire in a crowded bar on Dizengoff Street in central Tel Aviv. He shot and killed two people, and 12 others were injured before he fled the area. When terrorists strike crowded areas, first responders must often treat civilians who are injured while attempting to escape, as well as those directly injured by the terrorists. A few days before that attack, another terrorist with an M16 rifle began a shooting spree in a residential area of Bnei Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv. When terrorists strike, first responders occasionally find themselves in the line of fire. In Bnei Brak, MAGEN DAVID ADOM paramedic Menachem Englander arrived on the scene during the rampage and came face-to-face with the terrorist, but miraculously, the rifle jammed, and Menachem was able to escape. After shooting and killing four people, the terrorist was confronted by two police officers. One of the officers, Amir Khoury, 32, a Christian Israeli, was fatally wounded during the exchange. But he and his partner stopped the terrorist. Earlier that same week, two terrorists heavily armed with automatic weapons killed two police officers and injured four civilians at a bus station in the northern coastal city of Hadera. The week before, another terrorist attacked a woman at a gas station in Be’er Sheva and stabbed her to death. He got into his car and rammed a cyclist, killing him. Then he pulled into a shopping center and stabbed four more people, killing two of them. When terrorists strike, MAGEN DAVID ADOM paramedics and EMTs must fight through the fear and uncertainties of the moment to immediately find and treat those who are critically wounded. [PLEASE GIVE TO HELP THEM] All of these attacks did not occur over the course of years; they were weeks, sometimes days apart … The people of Israel never wonder, “Will there be another terrorist attack?” The question is always, “When?” When will the terrorists strike? When will the next missile warning siren sound? But one thing is certain. When terrorists strike, the dedicated women and men of MAGEN DAVID ADOM will be there. They will always be there. Most of these heroes are volunteers. They have families and jobs and lives of their own. But when terrorists strike, they choose to be there for the people of Israel. They are committed to being as prepared as possible, getting to the scene as quickly as possible, and saving as many lives as possible. When terrorists strike, will you be there for Israel? These 39,200 paramedics, EMTs, and first responders are committed to saving lives, but they urgently need your support. They cannot arrive at the scene of a terrorist attack empty-handed. If they are to save lives, they will need medical supplies … trauma equipment … emergency blood reserves … ambulances … and other emergency vehicles. All these medical resources come from the willing hands of donors who love Israel. People like you. Please give a gift today to help them save lives. Your support is urgently needed. Every dollar matters.
