New York State governor Kathy Hochul toured Kibbutz Kfar Aza with Magen David Adom Director-General Eli Bin while on a solidarity trip to Israel. During Hochul’s visit, she learned about MDA’s critical work and about the MDA personnel who were killed on October 7 and during Operation Swords of Iron.
While visiting Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the hardest hit on October 7, along with Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Member of Knesset Eliyahu Revivo, Bin explained to Hochul how surveillance videos showed that Hamas terrorists shot at MDA ambulances at the kibbutzim that they ambushed, preventing the injured from being brought to the hospital. Bin described how MDA dispatchers provided medical guidance and emotional support over the phone to people hiding while the army fought terrorists outside their homes. Bin told Hochul about Amit Man, an MDA paramedic who was killed while treating others in the Kibbutz Be’eri clinic.
“As governor of New York, I can’t tell you how proud I was to see the men and women in this incredible organization who are used to rescuing people and helping them, said Hochul. “After coming to this place to witness what they did, they did an extraordinary job and I just want to say how proud I am to know that they’re out there helping our fellow human beings.”
