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How Olim Are Helping Israel’s War Effort, Part 4: This Survivor Found Meaning by Creating New Year’s Fundraising Event for Orphans of Oct. 7 Massacre
Ari Fruchter and his son, Arad. Photo courtesy of Ari Fruchter
Since the Hamas terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre, immigrants who moved to Israel (olim in Hebrew) have been helping the Jewish state’s war effort in crucial ways beyond the battlefield. The Algemeiner has spoken to several of these individuals — natives of the US, Europe, and elsewhere — gathering their stories of courage and resourcefulness to help Israel prevail over Hamas in Gaza. Over the coming weeks, The Algemeiner will share some of these stories as a new series on how olim are helping Israel’s war effort. To read part three, click here.
When Israeli-American Arad Fruchter, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier in an intelligence unit, found himself caught in a barrage of rockets during the Supernova music festival, he couldn’t have imagined the significance of a throwaway text message he sent to his commander.
“I’m fine, I’m in Gaza,” the 20-year-old quipped when asked by his commander if he was OK.
Fruchter was indeed one of the lucky ones. He and a group of friends, one of whom was shot, hid in a banana plantation and covered themselves in leaves until they were rescued. Of the 4,000 attendees at the festival, 360 were murdered by Hamas terrorists and more than 40 were abducted to Gaza.
“For four terror-filled hours you lie to your friends that everything will be fine. Then you pray to everything that exists and everything that does not exist that you will make it out alive,” Fruchter told The Algemeiner.
A month before the massacre, Fruchter and developer Gal Zilberstein launched an event planning app called Zygo. The app was designed to facilitate event planning by connecting organizers with suppliers, venues, and DJs, as well as managing guest lists. But after Oct. 7, Fruchter felt event promotion for its own sake was bereft of meaning.
Seeking a way to keep himself motivated after his harrowing ordeal, Fruchter decided to organize a New Year’s Eve gala, the proceeds of which will go towards the Israeli Children’s Fund. Established by a group of Israeli high-tech leaders and venture capitalists in the wake of Oct. 7, the fund offers financial aid and emotional support to children who lost their parents, siblings, or homes in the attack.
The gala, called Echoes of Hope, is the first fundraising initiative promoted by Zygo and, according to Fruchter, is the only New Year’s Eve event in Israel that is also a fundraising drive for victims of the Oct. 7 massacre.
“New Year’s Eve is a time for celebrating and laughing with friends. But this year, of course, it’s different. I can’t just enjoy and smile like everything is normal,” Fruchter told The Algemeiner. “My friends in Gaza are fighting for me to be able to have the privilege of enjoying New Year’s Eve, and I can’t forget that. But on the other hand, we can’t allow ourselves to wallow [in despair].”
He co-produced the event together with his father, Ari Fruchter, an environmental activist and entrepreneur. Fruchter made aliyah from Philadelphia when his son was five years old.
The elder Fruchter said that for each shekel earned from ticket sales of the event, which will be hosted at the upscale Jaffa Hotel, they have received double the amount in direct donations. So far the event has raised more than $100,000, Fruchter said.
“I’m unbelievably proud of my son who’s given so much to the country, and not just as a soldier,” Ari Fruchter told The Algemeiner. “He was so intent on using the fact that he’s still alive to generate more good in the world.”
Arad Fruchter, meanwhile, expressed his hope that the event will be an inflection point for a more united Israel in the future.
“The day after the war, when my friends return from Gaza, I want them to come back to an Israel which is more unified, more healed,” he said. “This event is my small way to contribute to the kind of Israel we all want to see.”
The post How Olim Are Helping Israel’s War Effort, Part 4: This Survivor Found Meaning by Creating New Year’s Fundraising Event for Orphans of Oct. 7 Massacre first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Palestinian Detained after West Bank Terror Ramming
Illustrative: Israeli police at the scene of a car-ramming terrorist attack near a market in Jerusalem on Monday, April 24, 2023. Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters.
JNS.org – A Palestinian rammed his vehicle into a cop car in the West Bank on Saturday in what the military was investigating as a terror attack.
The incident occurred at the Eli gas station, the scene of repeated acts of terrorism against Israelis.
“A Palestinian vehicle accelerated towards a police car and collided with it, there were no casualties,” according to the Israel Defense Forces.
“Troops caught the terrorist and transferred him to security forces for further investigation,” added the statement.
On Sunday, three Israeli police officers were killed in a drive-by shooting near the Tarqumiya checkpoint, some 7.5 miles northwest of Hebron in Judea.
They were named as Chief Inspector Arik Ben Eliyahu, 37, of Kiryat Gat, who is survived by his wife and three children; Command Sgt. Maj. Hadas Branch, 53, of Sde Moshe, who is survived by her husband, three children and granddaughter; and 1st Sgt. Roni Shakuri, 61, of Sderot, who is survived by his wife, daughter and granddaughter.
Shakuri’s other daughter, 1st Sgt. Mor Shakuri, 29, was killed on Oct. 7 while battling an attempt by Hamas terrorists to take control of the police station in Sderot, in southern Israel near the border with Gaza.
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Ukraine Concerned at Reports of Iranian Ballistic Missiles to Russia
A missile unveiled by Iran is launched in an unknown location in Iran in this picture received by Reuters on August 20, 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Saturday it was deeply concerned by reports about a possible impending transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia.
In a statement emailed to reporters, the ministry said the deepening military cooperation between Tehran and Moscow was a threat to Ukraine, Europe and the Middle East, and called on the international community to increase pressure on Iran and Russia.
CNN and The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Iran had transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, citing unidentified sources.
Reuters reported in August that Russia was expecting the imminent delivery of hundreds of Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles from Iran and that dozens of Russian military personnel were being trained in Iran on the satellite-guided weapons for eventual use in the war in Ukraine.
On Friday, the United States, a key ally of Ukraine, also voiced concern about the potential transfer of missiles.
“Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said on Friday that Tehran’s position on the Ukraine conflict was unchanged.
“Iran considers the provision of military assistance to the parties engaged in the conflict – which leads to increased human casualties, destruction of infrastructure, and a distancing from ceasefire negotiations – to be inhumane,” it said.
“Thus, not only does Iran abstain from engaging in such actions itself, but it also calls upon other countries to cease the supply of weapons to the sides involved in the conflict.”
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Pakistani Man Charged with Planning Terror Attack Against NY Jews on Oct. 7 or Yom Kippur
The flag of the ISIS terrorist group. Image: Reuters/Alaa Al-Marjani/File Photo.
JNS.org – A Pakistani national, whom Canadian authorities arrested on Wednesday, planned to carry out an ISIS-styled, mass shooting terror attack against Jews in New York, the U.S. Justice Department alleged on Friday.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, who also answers to Shahzeb Jadoon, “attempted to travel from Canada to New York City, where he intended to use automatic and semi-automatic weapons to carry out a mass shooting in support of ISIS at a Jewish center in Brooklyn, N.Y.,” per the complaint.
Khan allegedly distributed ISIS videos and literature and expressed support for ISIS on social media and via encrypted messages. Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham is a U.S.-designated terror organization.
The defendant allegedly wrote that he wanted to target “Israeli Jewish Chabads … scattered all around,” per the 19-page complaint.
The Justice Department alleges that Khan “conveyed that he hoped to carry out this attack on or around Oct. 7, 2024—which Khan recognized as the one year anniversary of the brutal terrorist attacks in Israel by Hamas, a designated foreign terror organization, which, on Oct. 7, 2023, launched a wave of violent, large-scale terrorist attacks in Israel that resulted in the deaths and hostage taking of hundreds of civilians, including American citizens.”
Khan allegedly told undercover officers that he wanted to “go for Oct. 7 or Oct 11, Yom Kippur, a major festival for the Jews,” per the complaint. “Khan emphasized that ‘Oct. 7 and Oct. 11 are the best days for targeting the Jews,’ because ‘Oct. 7 they will surely have some protests and Oct. 11 is Yom Kippur,’ and ‘they don’t have any other major festival then till next summer.’”
“In selecting New York City as his target location, Khan told the undercover law enforcement officers that ‘New York is perfect to target Jews’ because it has the ‘largest Jewish population In America,’ and, as such, ‘even if we don’t attack a event, we could rack up easily a lot of Jews,” the complaint adds.
The defendant told the undercover officers that “he intended to kill as many Jewish civilians as possible, proclaiming that ‘we are going to New York City to slaughter them,’” per the complaint, which added that Khan allegedly sent a photograph “of the specific area” where he planned to attack to the undercover officers.
Per the complaint, Khan also allegedly told the undercover officers not to wear beards, so they wouldn’t attract attention, and that “you guys will even have to attend some synagogue or Chabad sessions” to “check the insides of the buildings.” He told them it was necessary to identify emergency exits in buildings, “so we can trap them and kill them inside,” per the complaint.
“In addition, Khan also explained that they should not record their ISIS allegiance video, or ‘bayah,’ until later because it would run the risk of them being caught by law enforcement prior to the planned attack,” the complaint alleges.
One of several cities that Khan flagged had “more relaxed” gun laws, he allegedly told the undercover officers.
“What’s the point of living till you’re 70 and dying on a hospital bed when we can attain shahadah in our youths, Inshalah,” he said, per the complaint. (The complaint defines the first term as a declaration of faith and the second as God willing.)
“The defendant is alleged to have planned a terrorist attack in New York City around Oct. 7 of this year with the stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS, as many Jewish people as possible,” stated Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general.
“Thanks to the investigative work of the FBI, and the quick action of our Canadian law enforcement partners, the defendant was taken into custody,” Garland said. “Jewish communities—like all communities in this country—should not have to fear that they will be targeted by a hate-fueled terrorist attack.”
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