Friends of the Israel Defense Forces distributed more than $132 million in 2025, the largest annual allocation in the organization’s 44-year history, with what it said was “significant” funding for mental health care and post-traumatic stress treatment for IDF soldiers, reservists and veterans.
Mental health programs were a central priority amid the ongoing war. “We started seeing these reservists getting out of Gaza or from Lebanon, and nobody took care of them,” said Nadav Padan, CEO and national director of FIDF.
Padan told JNS that he witnessed the psychological toll of combat in the days following the Oct. 7 attacks. “I flew to Israel the night of Oct. 7, reached Israel on Oct. 8 and did a reserve for three months,” he said.
“I saw with my own eyes the scene of the Gaza envelope,” Padan said. “I’m an old soldier. I saw a few things in my life. It was horrible. It was a Holocaust scene.”
“I could not sleep,” he said. “Even today, I have triggers, smells. I could not eat meat for almost six weeks. I’m not a vegetable guy. It was quite tough.”
Padan told JNS that he told Israeli officials, including the health minister, that “we have to do something,” and in what he described as an “informal” conversation, the Israeli defense minister asked him for help.
In response, FIDF helped accelerate the creation of a national PTSD treatment framework. The organization supported mental health clinics stretching from northern Israel to the south, with a clinic planned for Ashdod.
FIDF is advancing alternative therapeutic tools, including animal-assisted treatment programs using dogs and horses, in partnership with Israeli farms and care groups.
The organization is also funding a temporary mental-health hub in Tel Aviv that currently treats around 2,500 people monthly, Padan said, with plans to expand and eventually relocate to a permanent center in Netanya.
The Netanya facility, which is under renovation with a projected completion by the end of 2027, will serve as what Padan said would be “kind of an umbrella base for all the mental health organizations within the IDF.”
‘Bridging the bureaucracy gap’
Beyond infrastructure, Padan said FIDF also helps soldiers seek recognition and care.
“To get this kind of financial support, you have to be recognized as a wounded soldier,” he said. “To be recognized as a wounded soldier, you have to stand in front of a committee that will decide if you are or not.”
“If you are really suffering from PTSD, you don’t have the energy and the resilience to get yourself out of bed and go to the committee,” Padan said.
He told JNS that FIDF “will take you by hand to the committee and help you go through the processes. So when we’re saying that we’re bridging the bureaucracy gap, that’s an example.”
Padan said that Yom Siddurim, an event FIDF hosts with Nefesh B’Nefesh, provides guidance on things like opening Israeli bank accounts and obtaining driver’s licenses.
“In one day, a few hours, it solves everything,” he told JNS.
FIDF is also trying to help lone soldiers—those who come to Israel, away from family, and serve in the military—navigate major changes in their lives.
The group is building what Padan said will be a multi-story residential facility in Rishon LeZion, which will house 220 soldiers.
“The house is going to be open in the fourth quarter of the year,” he told JNS. “So far, we are on schedule.
The aim, he said, is stability and supervision during service. “It’s the closest thing to a real home,” he said. “I mean, nothing is compared to a real mom and real home, but it’s the closest thing that we can provide.”
