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When war was thrust upon Israel on Oct. 7, a group of friends, struck by tragedy, banded together to save their friend David Newman, serve their nation, and bridge logistical and supply chain gaps that existed in the early days of this conflict.
That group founded the organization Soldiers Save Lives.
“David and the rest of the team here, almost entirely, became citizens of Israel from different countries,” said Ike Bodner, COO of Soldiers Save Lives. “That assimilation process is challenging. So we all ended up in one school, a very small school, about 80 kids overall.”
Speaking of Newman and other friends who are now colleagues at Soldiers Save Lives, the 25-year-old Bodner explains, “those high school friends became football teammates. David and I never played on different sides, we never switched it up and a bond was created. We were roommates after high school. And then army buddies and travel the world buddies, groomsmen.”
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On Oct. 6, 2023, Newman borrowed his friend and Soldiers Save Lives CEO Baruch “Bucky” Apisdorf’s car to go to the Nova music festival.
“Then the next morning Bucky gets the text and you know it’s back and forth. And the last text exchange David had was with Bucky, essentially trying to say I love you,” Bodner explained. “It was clear through the text that something chaotic was happening before the news knew, before anybody knew what was happening there.”
What was happening was a genocidal rampage of slaughter, kidnappings, mass rape, and torture perpetrated by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians.
“Bucky and Gidon and Ezra, who’s Gidon’s roommate and David’s cousin, they all decided to go down to save David early in the morning,” said Bodner. They borrowed two handguns from a friend’s father, Apisdorf, who had no military training, drove a Toyota Prius packed with a now-armed Gidon and Ezra who are both trained Israel Defense Forces medics, into what can only be described as an active warzone.
Bodner tells us that, in the midst of Hamas’ attack on the peace-promoting Nova festival, the trio were able to “set up a field hospital, act as medics in the field and just try to do everything they could to help the country. Just like everyone else did.”
Pure heroism, and pure embodiment of the spirit of the people of Israel.
Heartbreakingly, they weren’t successful in saving their friend David, but their mission was far from over.
During their attempted rescue mission, Gidon’s brother, like many people in the country, was actively engaged in combat to protect his community. He told Gidon that he needed a drone.
“They ended up getting a drone from a bar mitzvah boy who had been given one as a present, one of Gidon’s neighbors,” Bodner said, finding a bit of humour amidst a harrowing story. “And they drove back down the next day, gave it to Gidon’s brother. Gidon gives him a hug and says, ‘Where’s your vest? Your little little thin man!’ Gidon’s brother says, ‘Dude, what do you mean? I don’t have a vest.'” In an act of brotherly love, Gidon removes his own vest and gives it to his brother, “gave him a hug, kiss, ‘Love you, see you later.’ And that was it.”
From here, the group of devastated friends, still reeling from the loss of their pal and the plight of their country, realize that there are gaps in the supply chain that the country can’t afford at the current time. A chat group was started, entitled “Let’s do something,” and, in memory of Newman, Soldiers Save Lives was formed.
Bodner remarked on how they were flooded with incoming messages. “I’m missing equipment. I don’t have a helmet. I don’t have a gun. I don’t have a scope. I have a gun with no bullets. It was crazy until the news started talking about who was where, we just knew that our friends were fighting and everybody went down [toward Gaza] to save the country and a lot of people went north [toward the border with Lebanon].
“And so the guys had started paying for things with their own money, calling their parents and asking them to reach out to their networks, calling their credit card companies and telling them ‘increase my limit to 45,000’ not asking, telling.”
Soon after, while at Newman’s funeral, Bodner finds himself on the phone with Israel’s major airline El Al trying to coordinate the delivery of tons of donated goods from the United States to Israel.
Soldiers Save Lives has been growing ever since.
While initially attempting to bridge supply chain gaps to assist IDF soldiers, the organization’s focus broadened. In addition to providing soldiers life-saving equipment, such as landmine-proof armoured ambulances, the organization has provided goods to some of the more than 60,000 Israelis who still find themselves internally displaced.
— Jonathan Kahane has a Bachelor of Arts (Hon.) degree in forensic psychology and is currently studying applied neuroscience at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London.
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