October is a haunting month for Jews.
The Yom Kippur War started on Oct. 6, 1973, with a surprise attack on Israel by a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria. On Oct. 27, 2018, a lone gunman shot and killed 11 Jewish worshippers at the Tree of Life*Or L’Simcha synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa., the deadliest such attack in U.S. history. And on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas operatives and other Palestinian Arabs invaded southern Israel, slaughtering 1,200 men, women and children, and kidnapping 251 others, some held in Gaza for nearly two years until their eventual release.
So, it seems fitting that American Friends of Unit 669 (AFU 669), a nonprofit organization that supports the soldiers, veterans and the welfare of the airborne combat search-and-rescue and medical evacuation unit of the Israel Defense Forces, held a gala on Oct. 15 to raise awareness of the life-saving work done every day.
Some 450 people gathered at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Lower Manhattan to acknowledge that work. After networking and dinner, the audience got to watch a live demonstration of what it’s like for medic soldiers to attend to an injured person and then carry that individual to a hospital, complete with emergency shouts and the clatter of necessary equipment.
It was followed by the compelling story of Dr. Ido Ben Zvi, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel, combat physician and major in the IDF who was wounded in the course of his work, titled “When the Rescuer Becomes the Rescued.” Yoram and Ronit Behiri, the honorary gala co-chairs, addressed the crowd, and Capt. Bar Reuven, co-founder of AFU 669 and its executive director, also offered remarks.
A Unit 669 veteran and former senior commander in the Israel Ministry of Defense, “H” took part in a conversation with Israeli journalist Tal Heinrich, a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister’s Office of Israel based in New York. A solid portion of the question-and-answer format between the two focused on Oct. 7 and the various security layers breached that day.
“No Israeli will forget the siren of that morning,” he said.
Canadian comedian Daniel-Ryan Spaulding, who has been an outspoken advocate for Israel since Oct. 7, served as event host. Bill Cohen, the co-founder and former chairman of AFU 669, earned a standing ovation for his leadership as he moves on to other ventures.
In a turn from the descriptive to the emotive, all eyes focused on two women dressed in striking maroon-red dresses. Israelis Carmel Shelly and her daughter, Mika, performed a dance simultaneously—hard, with straight faces, slapping the stage floor with their shoes. It echoed the pain felt from the loss of their son and brother, Ben Shelly, on Dec. 12, 2023.
‘You cannot lose more than this’
In a phone interview the day before the event, Shelly talked about her oldest child (she has another son), who was killed in Gaza at the age of 26.
She explained that members of United 669 are paramedics who are often away from the battlefield, rescuing people in all kinds of situations: disasters, falls, being lost or stuck somewhere. But on Oct. 7, Ben, a platoon commander, went to the invaded south, going back and forth in a helicopter that day, attempting to help as many victims as he could.
The IDF began a full-scale operation in Gaza 20 days later, on Oct. 27, and Ben went in. His mother said he spent five weeks in Gaza, performing life-saving work with a Golani unit there until the first hostage release and temporary ceasefire on Nov. 24. But she said he told her that he felt he wasn’t doing enough.
So after a visit with his family at their home on moshav Kidron near Rehovot in central Israel, he went back.
They never saw him again.
“We had a great time together; we never left the house,” she recalled. “We tried to be normal, though there was no normal in Israel then.”
Not long afterward, she said they lit a candle with him during the holiday of Chanukah via their phone cameras after he returned to Gaza.
“He looked so good, so strong, so sure about himself,” said his mother. “He told us it was the most just war we ever had. He believed in it so much. He believed he was fighting against true evil.”
And he believed wholeheartedly in the age-old Jewish principle of pikuach nefesh, saving a life—sometimes, at all costs.
These days, Shelly, 56, says it’s too hard to watch movies or read books about the war, even three years later. Instead, she performs musical tributes in honor of her son. She manages a dancing school and studio near her home to keep busy—and to stay positive.
“We keep Ben’s values alive,” she said. “I can dance my feelings. For me, dancing is my health. I keep my head up and never give up. Ben would want this.”
The moshav operates a vineyard nearby, and a commemorative wine bottle has been named “Ben Sheli” (“My Ben”). Even with all the goodwill and support in honor of their son, she and her husband, Moshe, 59, live with the pain: “You cannot lose more than this, than us—our kid.”
As for how the world reacts to Israel these days—with protests, boycotts, vitriol and even violence—she said it wasn’t fair, that “we don’t deserve it. We’re not bad people. Israelis are brave, brave, brave people. And we are not tired, though we are tired of war.”
Perhaps, Carmel noted, “we need to explain ourselves better. We want a better future, and maybe—maybe—one day, peace with our neighbors. We want a quiet, regular life.”
That doesn’t seem likely anytime soon. Israeli troops are still stationed in Gaza, and threats from Hezbollah to the north, as well as Iran and its other terror proxies throughout the Middle East, remain in full force. Yet the continued work of AFU 669 remains hopeful. The Shellys remain hopeful; they have two other children and have no choice.
It exemplifies not just the resilience of Israelis, but of family connections to this unit of the military.
“I had Ben for 26 years,” said Carmel. “And I still have him. I’m still raising him.”
