'When everyone is fleeing, it’s time to act’: EMT reflects on service after Oct 7
From Mexico City to the front lines of emergency medical care: How one EMT found his calling in Israel after tragedy
Menahem Mizrahi made aliyah from Mexico City at 18. Emergency response was never part of his plan – until Oct. 7, 2023.
“I was studying; I served in the army for some time. When all this happened, suddenly I saw an entire country mobilize to help those affected. I saw a nation breaking inside, and everyone who could gave everything for this beautiful country,” he told ALL ISRAEL NEWS at the Magen David Adom (MDA) training center in Ramleh.
Now one of the volunteers who make up roughly 90% of MDA’s 39,200 personnel, Mizrahi says he hopes to continue advancing within the organization and pursue a career in medicine.
Asked what gives him the courage to run toward danger as others flee it, he said: “I think it’s exactly that: When everyone is fleeing, it’s time to act. There’s a well-known saying in Hebrew: Bemakom she’ein ish, hishtadel lihiyot ish – in a place where someone is needed, strive to be that someone.”
Responding to what is often the worst day of someone’s life has shaped Mizrahi’s outlook: “It gives you a lot of perspective, to be grateful for everything you have, especially your health,” he said. Being able to help in those moments, he added, strengthens his commitment to the work.
Mizrahi also draws strength from the 10th-grade students he trains through an Israeli Education Ministry program that includes a 10-hour basic first-aid course. He teaches students to respond to emergencies, including resuscitation, choking, trauma and other medical situations, preparing them to act in the critical minutes before an ambulance arrives.
For Mizrahi, the impact multiplies with each class. “It’s like a chain,” he described.
“Those people go out tomorrow and, instead of just me, I have another 30 people who can help save more lives.”
Mizrahi said the scale of unity and altruism he has witnessed in Israel is unlike anything he has experienced before.
That selflessness was especially evident on Oct. 7, 2023. Since the attacks and the war that followed, MDA has lost 39 of its members. Among them was MDA paramedic and course instructor Amit Mann, 22, of Kibbutz Be’eri, who was shot dead by terrorists while treating wounded residents at the kibbutz clinic.
Mann’s stethoscope and uniform will be among the objects displayed in the memorial exhibition “The Void Left Behind,” opening at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation in Tel Aviv on Saturday, Oct. 3, marking three years since the attacks.
Our paramedics’ bodies were found with their medical gloves still on, murdered by Hamas in the midst of treating the wounded.
— Magen David Adom (@Mdais) November 4, 2023
Our ambulance drivers were executed in cold blood while sitting in the drivers’ seats.
Reflecting on the Star of David as both a national symbol and MDA’s emblem, Mizrahi noted its association with King David and his victory over Goliath, a story he sees as parallel to Israel’s own.
But another interpretation resonates with him even more personally.
“One of the most beautiful explanations of this star is that it’s like two arrows pointing toward each other, like two triangles pointing and intertwining with one another,” he said. “I think that’s what it represents: two people, each giving everything for the other, and that’s how their lives become intertwined.”
You might also like to read this:
