Welcome to the Friends of Israel Today. I'm Steve Conover. With me is our host and teacher, Chris Katulka. Have you visited foiradio.org? After this episode ends, I'd invite you to visit us at foiradio.org. There we have over eight years worth of programming on our site. Again, that's foiradio.org. Steve, today we have a special guest in studio. Guy Caspi has joined us from Israel. He works with Magan Davidadom, which is Israel's Red Cross. Guy is the chief multi-casualty instructor and director of hazmat exercises and operational training for Magan Davidadom in Israel. Guy's going to share with us everything that Magan Davidadom does and how they help in the emergency medical services for the Israeli people. We're looking forward to your interview with Guy Caspi. That's coming up, but first in the news. April 29th has officially become End Jew Hatred Day in New York City after the council passed a resolution to rein in the reoccurring anti-Semitic incidents plaguing the city. The resolution was spearheaded by Jewish Republican Ina Vernikov, an outspoken opponent of anti-Semitism in city politics. She cited data from the Anti-Defamation League showing anti-Semitic crimes in the U.S. they're at an all-time high, with regular incidents in New York City. Well, Steve, here's my take. Congrats to Ina for standing against the rise of Jew hatred, of anti-Semitism. But what's concerning is that two of the city council members voted no, while four abstained. Why? Because some didn't agree with Israel's relationship with the Palestinians. That means that opponents to this resolution's opinions about Israel reflects on the mistreatment of the Jewish people in New York City. One has nothing to do with the other. It's just another example that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. You're welcome. I am honored to have Guy Caspi from Israel, and Guy serves with Magan David Adom in Israel, and I know for our listeners that can be a mouthful to hear Magan David Adom, and they might be thinking, what is this Magan David Adom? So, Guy, great to have you in the studio, and maybe for our listening audience, you could share what MDA Magan David Adom does. Thank you for having me, first of all. Well, Mackenzie Vita Dome is actually the emergency medical services and the blood services for the State of Israel. The use of the emblem, the Red Shield of David, as a symbol of Jewish medical help was actually being used even in World War I. But when the State of Israel was declared back in 1948, Two years later, the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, declared MDA law, Magenta Vidadom law, that defined the missions of this organization. First of all is to provide pre-hospital care for whoever is in the state of Israel. And then we do first aid training. We do train our people, we train the general public, we train the Israeli Defense Forces paramedic as well. Then we go and do blood. We do most of the blood campaign for the State of Israel. That means we run about 96% of the entire blood demand for the State of Israel. That means that we run the blood campaign, we do the tests, we do the processing and provide the blood to the different users, mainly the hospitals in peacetime, but when it comes to emergency, to the Israeli Defense Force as well. And then we serve as the Israeli Red Cross and Red Crescent Society for the State of Israel. That means that we do whatever comes to Red Cross activities. Disaster relief, relative searching, and we joined missions around the world. Last earthquake in Turkey, some of our people were joining some mission work there. We sent some people for the United States during some hurricanes as well as other search and rescue operations like suicide incidents. And last but not least, due to the special situation that the State of Israel is living in, as I say, in a tough neighborhood, we're an auxiliary civilian service to the Israeli Defense Force. That means we assist the Israeli Defense Force when it's needed. And when rockets hit the home front, and unfortunately it's happened, we are the main responding agency for civilian casualties caused by those rockets. All right, so Guy, I wanna share with our listening audience your title, okay? And I've actually built it into a question because the title is very long and you serve as the Chief Multi-Casualty Instructor and Director of Hazmat Exercises and Operational Training for Magan Davidadom in Israel. That title makes you sound very busy, Guy, so can you explain to me and to our listeners, each component to your calling at MDA. I'll start with the fact that don't ask me how to teach CPR. I know how to do it. I served as a paramedic, but mainly I'm dealing with what we call the operational training. That means how to respond to the different scenarios, wartime scenarios, for example. How you work in a situation where a missile hit a populated residential building. When do you get in? How do you coordinate with the police? When it comes to terror attack, very complicated scenarios, suicide bombers. how we coordinate, when is the step, when MDA crews and people are stepping in. And our set of mind is a little bit different from other emergency services around the world because Having the goal of saving lives, that means we're working with the bomb technician very soon to save people on the site. So generally, this part, what we call the operational training, is whatever comes to the emergency scenario on command and control, on scene coordination, working with other emergency services. This is the main part of my job. And then we'll go to the drills and exercise. We conduct a lot of drills and exercise along with our partners and colleagues like the Israeli police, the Israeli Defense Force, the fire services. We do roughly around 300 drills per year. And it can become, it can be a small drill with one or two units, and it can be a large-scale drill with 45, 55 ambulances that simulate an airplane crash in the airport, or recently we conduct a large-scale non-conventional attack on a train system. So how you deal with this. The last portion, and it's a small one, is what's dealt with hazardous materials. Because within our doctrine in operational procedure, we are part of the response for those scenarios as well. So our people have to know how to use their protection gear and how to respond in the hazardous material situation. So those are mainly the three components of my title. And yes, I am busy. You are. You sound very busy. You've been busy here in the United States traveling and speaking on behalf of Maganda Vida Dome here in the United States and that's very important as well because I know that the Maganda Vida Dome, the American friends of Maganda Vida Dome helped raise funds to make sure that You have the proper ambulances and tools to be able to accomplish the tasks that your team needs to do to make it possible. So I'm thankful that you're here. I have one more question before we take a break. You actually started with MDA in 1979 as a youth volunteer. We were talking about that earlier. And today you've made it a career. I want to know, what was it about MDA that made you want to go from being a volunteer to making this something you'd invest your life into? An interesting issue about MDA in general that you can see in the agency a lot of people that do the same paths that I did. Oh really? You come as a volunteer and we call it infected, but in the good manners. That means you step in in the beginning, you join the ambulances and you're second hand on the unit and then you feel how you can contribute and literally save life and make the difference. And I started, as you mentioned, as a youth volunteer. And during this period, I gained some experience and I decided that I it just looked nice. Not only the practice and the sirens and the rush, but also the idea that you give and you do something for the general purpose of a better world, maybe. And after serving the army as a medical instructor, I started working. And then, you know, I went to the university, did my bachelor's degree in archaeology. Did you really? Yep. We'll have to have you back for another archaeology one, another archaeology episode. And I still was attracted to the field. I stayed in the agency and then I went to paramedic training and became a trainer. And then I was pulled up from the field to operation and for the last 20 or so years I'm there doing a very, very, very interesting job. very interesting times because there's not a moment for us. I bet. I bet. Well, listen, we are speaking with Guy Caspi from Israel. He's joining us here in studio in the United States and he serves with Magandavida Dome in Israel. And so it's a joy to have him. We've got a few more questions with Guy. So we want you to stick around and hear really how important MDA is in serving Israel, especially with the enemies that surround the Jewish state. So stick around. For more than half a century, Zvi Kalischer's stories have been one of the most popular features in Israel My Glory magazine, and now also as dramatic readings here on the Friends of Israel Today. Chris, where can our listeners find out more about Zvi's inspirational life? Yeah, I recommend a book called Zvi, The Miraculous Story of Triumph Over the Holocaust by none other than Elwood McQuaid. It is the best-selling book produced by the Friends of Israel. Many have been inspired and encouraged by this story of a Holocaust survivor in Warsaw, Poland. Separated from his parents and forced to face the trials of Hitler's Nazi regime, he triumphed against all odds and found his way to Israel and faith in the Messiah. This book will touch your life and you'll find it difficult to put down. I know I did. You can order your very own copy right now at foiradio.org. The impact of Zvi's life and ministry in Israel, it didn't end when he went home to be with the Lord. In fact, Zvi's legacy lives on. Our Friends of Israel ministry representatives continue to share the Gospel in Jerusalem, Israel, and really all throughout the world. We also serve Holocaust survivors and their families. We provide free food, medicine, and clothing, and we even promote the safety and security of the State of Israel and the Jewish people everywhere. So when you give to the Friends of Israel, your donation actually allows us to advance the gospel of our Messiah Jesus. You can give online by visiting foiradio.org. Again, that's foiradio.org. You can click right there on our donate link. Also, be sure to let us know where you listen when you contact us. Welcome back, everybody. We're speaking with Guy Caspi from Israel. He's joining us in studio here, and he serves with Magan David Adom in Israel. And Guy, to this day, Israel has enemies surrounding its borders and enemies from within. Have you had any encounters with rockets coming from Gaza or suicide bombers as a professional EMT in Israel? Unfortunately, being in the service since the late 17th of the last century, I've been involved in several incidents. First of all, as a paramedic, as a responder, and for the last 23 years as somebody from operation and as a debriefing officer. And when those things happens, we report to the scene and then we conduct the debriefing session. And I can recall, unfortunately, a lot of incidents. One that I remember was one of the bad terrorist attacks in Tel Aviv happened in 2006, if I'm not wrong. It was a suicide attack in the Dolphinarium nightclub when a suicide bomber detonated himself in front of a queue of young girls waiting to get into the nightclub. I was the second ALS unit on scene and it was a bad, it was a bad scenario. Moving on in years, we just had Passover and one of the Passover nights, there are incidents known as the Passover Massacre, happened in Park Hotel in Netanya. suicide bomber entered the dining hall when they were reading the Haggadah and blew himself up there. And I happened to be at my sister's residence having the seder there, and it was about five miles from Netanya. So I never finished that seder. And after this incident, Whenever, as a family, we went out, we took two cars. Because, as my wife says, I need somebody. I have the ability to get home by myself. That's right. I don't want to be stuck at the Passover Seder. And when the rockets hit us, You're ready. I was there as well in some of the places. You know this leads me to my next question and you know you and I have been talking the Friends of Israel does volunteer work at Kaplan Medical Center and I've had a chance to interact with EMTs for several years that would be coming to the hospital and providing service. And you get a chance to see the Israeli culture at work when it comes to these emergency moments. And I have a question for you, and I think it might lead to more conversation, but is there an Israeli approach to EMT, to emergency medical treatment that makes Maganda Vida Dome different from the other ways other countries do EMT as well? Is there an Israeli approach? We follow the common protocols. Actually, we work according, for example, in heart condition according to the American Heart Association protocols and according to the PHTLS protocols. They are well known around the world. So when you deal with the patient or the casualties on day-to-day activities and day-to-day cases, we're following the same protocols. But when it comes to multi-casualty incidents, we do have a kind of a different approach. And mainly it was learned during the second Intifada, the second uprise, when we had a lot of suicide bombers. And then one of the challenges was How do you get to the casualties on a scene when something exploded in? Because, you know, safety comes first in old EMTs and old medical care doctrines. And we find ourselves in a situation that we have casualties, we have an unsafe environment, and we are kind of Waiting for the bomb technician to wave the white flag means you can get in. And then we realized that people lost their life due to this gap, because it takes time to clear the scene. So we worked with other agencies and conduct our operational procedures the same. That mainly says that even if it's an unsafe environment, we work together with the bomb technician, work together with the police forces, getting into the scene very quickly and taking out the casualties after triage them and performing life-saving procedures and evacuate them very quickly to the hospitals. And this saves lives, actually. You guys also have a very unique volunteer network as well that serves with MDA that I think stands apart from a lot of the EMT services that we see around the world. When I was in Canada not long ago, we heard from a gentleman who was talking about the uniqueness of the volunteer network at Maganda Vida Dome to help to help really streamline the process of getting to somebody as fast as they can if there's an emergency. And it boils down to basically your cell phone as a volunteer. Can you provide any insight into that and how that's unique in some way? Yeah. In the agency, we have about 3,000 and so employees, the skeleton. And beside, we have around 32,000 volunteers. and they can be youth volunteer and adults. And the entire approach, the medical approach, is designed to get the help to the patient as soon as possible. And in terms of technology, Magen David Adom is in the edge of the spear, and we built our own command and control system. And the idea is in the minute there is an emergency, we have the location, what we call the flag. And the system look for the first responders among our volunteers that can be students, it can be a clerk at the shop, it can be a lawyer in the office. And whenever he's the nearest, he will be notified by MDA app. and will be on the scene in no time starting to do CPR or starting to deliver a baby or just provide primary care. And this brings us to the situation that within a few minutes we have somebody from MDA, touching and taking care of the patient. Yeah, that is amazing. I heard a story once that you said a lawyer, that there was a lawyer in Jerusalem and they heard somebody had a heart attack. His phone buzzed, a heart attack. And it's only within a couple, you know, hundred yards from him. He walked over there. He was the first there to provide service until, uh, you know, um, the, you know, the employees could show up to, to handle the situation, but he was ready to go. And he walked back to his office after he was done. It's happened on a daily basis. Let's put it this way. And what's more important is that the employees as well as the managers are willing to this to happen. Yes. And this is important. Yes. They're all active. I love that. I got one more question for you before we wrap up. I know that Friends of Israel has raised significant funds among Bible-believing Christians to purchase multiple ambulances and medic cycles as well. Guy, as an Israeli who serves with MDA, what does it mean to you to see Christians supporting Israel, supporting MDA, Magon David Adom, and do you have a word for them today? First of all, it's warm my heart and everybody within the agencies, the volunteers, the employee, the management, are thankful because at the bottom line, very few percentage of the NDA budget comes from the government. And by your help and by other agencies' help, we can do the service to the people of Israel, and we can save lives in Israel, and we are very, very, very, very thankful. Well, listen, for our listeners who are out there right now, if you've been blessed by this conversation that I've had with Guy Caspi, who's joining us from Israel, who serves with Magan Davidadom, and you'd like to participate in some way so that you could give, number one, you can support Magan Davidadom through the Friends of Israel by going to our Israel Relief Fund, Or you can also go right to their website, which is AFMDA.org. Again, that's AFMDA.org. And there you can give to help support, to help save lives in Israel. And we're thankful that Guy Caspi could be with us today to help make that all possible. Thank you, Guy. Thank you for having me. Our thanks to Guy Caspi for being with us on today's program, and thank you for joining us today. Israel My Glory in Depth next week. Yeah, one of my favorite episodes is when we get a chance to highlight our most recent issue of Israel My Glory, and that's what we're gonna be doing next week. The new issue of Israel My Glory is called On the Road to Zion. a devotional tour of the Holy Land. And hey, let this just be a reminder to you, we want you to be on the road to Zion with us on one of our Up to Jerusalem tours. To find out more information on how you can join the Friends of Israel on our Up to Jerusalem tour, go to foi.org forward slash tours. Again, that's foi.org forward slash tours. Our host and teacher is Chris Kotulka. Today's program was produced by Tom Ghelion, edited by Jeremy Strong, who also composed and performs our theme music. And I'm Steve Conover, executive producer. Our mailing address is FOI Radio, P.O. Box 914, Belmar, New Jersey 08099. Again, that's FOI Radio, P.O. Box 914, Belmar, New Jersey 08099. And I'll give you one last quick reminder to visit us at foiradio.org. The Friends of Israel today is a production of the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. We are a worldwide evangelical ministry proclaiming biblical truth about Israel and the Messiah while bringing physical and spiritual comfort to the Jewish people.