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Israeli Nonprofit Started by Friends of Nova Massacre Victim Opens Healing Center in Thailand for Oct. 7 Survivors
David Newman and his girlfriend Noam. David was murdered by Hamas-led terrorists at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023. Noam was shot in the hip and leg but survived. Photo: Provided
An Israeli nonprofit organization, founded by friends of a victim of the Nova Music Festival massacre on Oct. 7, recently opened a trauma center in Thailand for survivors of the Hamas terrorist attacks who are seeking an escape from Israel.
Let’s Do Something was created in memory of David Newman, who was killed at the Nova Music Festival in Re’im, Israel, where Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered nearly 400 people and kidnapped approximately 40 others.
Immediately after the Oct. 7 attacks, a group of Newman’s closest friends in their 20s formed a WhatsApp group called “Let’s Do Something” with the goal of helping to gather supplies, equipment, and humanitarian aid for those affected by Hamas terrorism. Since then, the nonprofit has provided 300,000 pounds of humanitarian aid and equipment to over 20,000 soldiers and 50,000 displaced civilians, including bulletproof vests, army boots, kneepads, and drones for soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Its newest initiative focuses on helping Oct. 7 survivors and soldiers in the area of mental health, including many suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Let’s Do Something opened a healing center, called David’s Circle, in Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand, a country that is a popular destination spot for Israeli tourists. David’s Circle hosted its first gathering of people on Sept. 18 and will host another event on Oct. 7. The goal is to serve roughly 150 people a month at the new healing center, David Gani, the chief financial officer and co-founder of Let’s Do Something, told The Algemeiner.
Israeli media reported data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics that showed more than 12,000 people left Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and had not returned by June. Approximately 30,000 Israelis left the country permanently between November 2023 and March 2024. David’s Circle aims to support the thousands of Israelis who have relocated to Thailand or traveled to the country for solace over the past year, wanting to escape the war, trauma, and terror attacks they experienced in Israel.
Let’s Do Something opened David’s Center in partnership with leading Israeli trauma specialist and therapist Yael Shoshani-Rom and Segev Ben-Shalom, an IDF social worker. The unique sanctuary offers “critical, multidisciplinary care and support to Nova festival survivors, bereaved families, soldiers, and others affected by the ongoing crisis, guiding them through their healing journey.”
Shoshani-Rom, her husband, and their children relocated from Israel to Thailand in August to lead the opening of David’s Circle as its healing director. She is a clinical psychologist and lecturer at the University of Haifa. Earlier this year, she took an initial research trip to Thailand, to feel the waters and see how many people in the country could benefit from a healing center, and ended up hosted a healing event on Yom Hazikaron (Israel’s Day of Remembrance) with 500 Israelis who came together to share their experiences.
Let’s Do Something is currently running a fundraising campaign to support David’s Circle.
The turnout at a healing event hosted by Yael Shoshani-Rom in Thailand earlier this year. Photo: Provided
“After October 7th, I committed myself to working with Nova survivors. It became clear that, for many, including survivors from the southern communities and soldiers, it still feels like October 7th, 2023, every single day,” explained Shoshani-Rom in a released statement. “In Israel, you can’t escape the memory of that day. Many people need to leave, whether to India, Europe, or Thailand. However, their trauma follows them, and they are at great risk of severe mental health crises. That’s why David’s Circle was created.”
“Israel is a small country where almost everyone knows someone affected by the events of October 7th, whether they were at Nova, impacted by the attack, connected to hostage families, fighting in Gaza, or lost a loved one,” said Baruch “Bucky” Apisdorf, CEO of Let’s Do Something. “Over 17,000 Israelis travel to Thailand monthly, many of them carrying the weight of serious trauma and facing a mental health crisis. David’s Circle is here to provide the peace and support they desperately need.”
How it started
The core eight team members behind Let’s Do Something were all close friends of David Newman and have quit their day-time jobs to run the nonprofit organization full-time.
Gani — who was born in New York but moved to Israel with his family when he was a teenager — explained to The Algemeiner that he met Newman in high school in Israel. They eventually lived together and on Oct. 6, Newman borrowed Apisdorf’s car to attend the Nova Music Festival with his girlfriend Noam. Newman also attended the music festival wearing a shirt he borrowed from Apisdorf.
“All of us were broken and didn’t know what to do with ourselves,” Gani told The Algemeiner. “We, along with some of our other friends, decided we need to do something. We realized there is a lot of people who need things and don’t have it, and that Israel is quickly going to run out of goods. Let’s see if we can do something about that.”
“All of us, we absolutely used the chaos and insanity and poured our blood, sweat, and tears into this as a way to avoid our trauma,” he added. “We all collectively felt we needed to do something; we couldn’t just sit with that grief. And this entire organization is ‘Let’s Do Something’ in memory of David Newman. A big part of all of this is honoring David and keeping his name alive. That’s a big part of it for us and that has 100 percent been a part of our grieving process and a coping mechanism.”
The post Israeli Nonprofit Started by Friends of Nova Massacre Victim Opens Healing Center in Thailand for Oct. 7 Survivors first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Stanley Fischer, Former Fed Vice Chair and Bank of Israel Chief, Dies at 81
FILE PHOTO: Vice Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve System Stanley Fischer arrives to hear Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney delivering the Michel Camdessus Central Banking Lecture at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, U.S., September 18, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
Stanley Fischer, who helped shape modern economic theory during a career that included heading the Bank of Israel and serving as vice chair of the US Federal Reserve, has died at the age of 81.
The Bank of Israel said he died on Saturday night but did not give a cause of death. Fischer was born in Zambia and had dual US-Israeli citizenship.
As an academic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fischer trained many of the people who went on to be top central bankers, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as well as Mario Draghi, the former European Central Bank president.
Fischer served as chief economist at the World Bank, and first deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund during the Asian financial crisis and was then vice chairman at Citigroup from 2002 to 2005.
During an eight-year stint as Israel’s central bank chief from 2005-2013, Fischer helped the country weather the 2008 global financial crisis with minimal economic damage, elevating Israel’s economy on the global stage, while creating a monetary policy committee to decide on interest rates like in other advanced economies.
He was vice chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2017 and served as a director at Bank Hapoalim in 2020 and 2021.
Current Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron praised Fischer’s contribution to the Bank of Israel and to advancing Israel’s economy as “truly significant.”
The soft-spoken Fischer – who played a role in Israel’s economic stabilization plan in 1985 during a period of hyperinflation – was chosen by then Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as central bank chief.
Netanyahu, now prime minister, called Fischer a “great Zionist” for leaving the United States and moving to Israel to take on the top job at Israel’s central bank.
“He was an outstanding economist. In the framework of his role as governor, he greatly contributed to the Israeli economy, especially to the return of stability during the global economic crisis,” Netanyahu said, adding that Stanley – as he was known in Israel – proudly represented Israel and its economy worldwide.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also paid tribute.
“He played a huge role in strengthening Israel’s economy, its remarkable resilience, and its strong reputation around the world,” Herzog said. “He was a world-class professional, a man of integrity, with a heart of gold. A true lover of peace.”
The post Stanley Fischer, Former Fed Vice Chair and Bank of Israel Chief, Dies at 81 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Says Israel Blocking Ramallah Meeting Proof of ‘Extremism’
Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud attends a news conference at the Arab Gulf Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 9, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud said the Israeli government’s refusal to allow a delegation of Arab ministers to the West Bank showed its “extremism and rejection of peace.”
His statement came during a joint press conference in Amman with counterparts from Jordan, Egypt and Bahrain, after they met as part of an Arab contact group that was going to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
“Israel’s refusal of the committee’s visit to the West Bank embodies and confirms its extremism and refusal of any serious attempts for (a) peaceful pathway… It strengthens our will to double our diplomatic efforts within the international community to face this arrogance,” the Saudi minister said.
On Saturday, Israel said it would not allow a planned meeting on Sunday that would have included ministers from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Palestinian Authority officials said.
Bin Farhan’s visit to the West Bank would have marked the first such visit by a top Saudi official in recent memory.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in a “provocative meeting” to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said blocking the trip was another example of how Israel was “killing any chance of a just and comprehensive” Arab-Israeli settlement.
An international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, is due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said the conference would cover security arrangements after a ceasefire in Gaza and reconstruction plans to ensure Palestinians would remain on their land and foil any Israeli plans to evict them.
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Nonprofit Ship Sets Sail for Gaza After Drone Attack Setback
Police officers detain Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, during an Oily Money Out and Fossil Free London protest in London, Britain, October 17, 2023. Photo: Reuters/Toby Melville
International nonprofit organization Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said one of its vessels left the Italian port of Catania on Sunday, heading for Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, after a previous attempt failed due to a drone attack on a separate ship in the Mediterranean.
The crew of volunteers, including climate activist Greta Thunberg and Irish actor Liam Cunningham, set sail on the Madleen, carrying barrels of what the group called “limited amounts, though symbolic,” of relief supplies.
Another vessel operated by the group, the Conscience, was hit by two drones just outside Maltese territorial waters in early May. FFC said Israel was to blame for the incident. Israel has not responded to requests for comment.
“We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying, because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity,” Thunberg told reporters at a conference before the departure.
She added that “no matter how dangerous this mission is, it is nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the lives being genocised”.
FFC said the trip “is not charity. This is a non-violent, direct action to challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes.”
The situation in Gaza is the worst since the war between Israel and Hamas terrorists began 19 months ago, the United Nations said on Friday, despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries in the Palestinian enclave.
Under growing global pressure, Israel ended an 11-week blockade on Gaza, allowing limited U.N.-led operations to resume.
On Monday, a new avenue for aid distribution was also launched – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – backed by the United States and Israel, but with which the U.N. and international aid groups have refused to work, saying it is not neutral and has a distribution model that forces the displacement of Palestinians.
The post Nonprofit Ship Sets Sail for Gaza After Drone Attack Setback first appeared on Algemeiner.com.