Israel – After years of experience in dealing with mass casualty incidents in Israel and around the world, ZAKA – the Israel-based, United Nations-recognized volunteer rescue and recovery organization – is expanding its International Rescue Unit.
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Against the background of international terror and increasing anti-Semitic attacks, ZAKA will recruit and train teams of volunteers worldwide to act as emergency medical first responders, able to assist the local emergency services.
The head of Zaka’s International Rescue Unit, Mati Goldstein, who recently led the six-member ZAKA team that assisted at the plane crash site in Buffalo, New York, said, “With this training scheme, we intend to share ZAKA’s experience and expertise with communities around the world so that we can all be better prepared to deal with every type of emergency.”
Volunteers from all over the world will be able to participate in the five-day basic training program, scheduled for this May.
The course will include certification as emergency medical first responders; security preparedness and response; dealing with mass casualty incidents; honouring the dead; forensics work; and simulation of hands-on emergency drills. It will take place either at ZAKA headquarters in Israel, including accommodations, or in local communities for groups of 10-15 with training given by ZAKA personnel from Israel.
This will not work. How is ZAKA going to train people up to loacality standards of first responders? Why do they think that they can do “forensics” better then people in the United States? I don’t think ZAKA should be touting their experience in Buffalo, as they were asked to leave.
Zaka should confine themselves to Eretz Yisroel. We often hear how they doing so poorly financially. Let them stay in Eretz Yisroel and mind their own business.
Being Global may give the “machers” in Zaka some sense of “gaiva”, but that’s not their purpose.
TOTALLY UNNECESSAY. A waste of valuable charitable funds.
I guess that’s how they get an out of country vacation. Their efforts should be focused in E.Y. and not elsewhere. If a foreign country requests their aid, let that country pay for their services. But I know they were not asked to go to Buffalo and once there were no allowed to contribute to the rescue effort.
what a waste
another example of waste. when do we have another appeal? when do we get a piece of potato kugel?
stay in isreal we can handle our owen stuff
As being the Gabbai in a shul in new york , we decided that starting this year we will not be making an appeal for zaka as we have done in the past years. We feel that the fact that they are using klal money, they should be a lot more careful how they spend it .
They say they are going to teach “certification as emergency medical first responders; security preparedness and response; dealing with mass casualty incidents; honouring the dead; forensics work; and simulation of hands-on emergency drills” all in 5 days. That doesn’t sound feasible to do all that in 5 days. How much emergency medical first responder training can they do beyond some very basic cpr and bandaging. Do they need to spend money flying around the world to teach that. In the u.s. there are plenty of places where people can already learn those skills. I respectfully suggest they make sure everyone in Israel older than 12 has those skills before globe trotting, or go to places without medical care, like Haiti.
This is a way for Zaka to get funds from people outside of Israel. Just what we need is for a three way fight between Zaka, Chesed shel Emes, and Misaskim!
B”H in the united states we have in every yiddish yishuv an excellent Hatzolah force for Medical help, & for after care there are experts from Chesed Shel Emes & Misaskim.
ZAKA is absolutely unneeded, they can stay where they are, & apend less yiddish gelt for publicity stunts.
zaka is great and i am greatfull for them for expending hopfully they will help put to geether a new hatzolah system in new york the old one is to……………………………………………….whatever
Where does it say that Zaka is paying for this? I would think that they are doing this for a fee, no?
Zaka Mayby great, and so are Hatzalah, Shomrim, Masaskin & Chesed Shell Emes
and they all work together… each division in each neighborhood is responsible for all safety. safety also means to know and trust each other when working together. i just hope Zaka will be careful who they allow to join training. to just open training to all and have individuals who feel they have this “training” can over ride the on going relationship between all the above organizations they will be very wrong…
The ONLY need for Zaka outside of EY could be in Mumbai type incidents where the local security and emergency medical teams might not be aware of what halacha requires or the importance of certain procedures. Beyond those rare episodes, there is no need for Zaka.
This is a PR stunt on Zaka’s part. They are looking for ways to get funding from American Philanthropists. The last thing the world needs is a bunch of untrained renegades responding to emergencies. It will end up hampering rescue efforts instead of helping. Unless they stick to their current response time of a week.
I support Zaka…with my $$, where it counts. I wish they’d let women join, at least in some way. What they do is beyond invaluable & dedicated. You critics should try climbing trees to pick bits of blown-up Jews off leaves after a terrorist attack. You wouldn’t last a minute before you’d run screaming to the safety of a Gemorrah that you will twist to validate your cowardice.
Zaka is a gr8 org’ they do help! YOU Will always find in every org’ some think wrong Zaka maybe have more enemies than other’s but that is not a no on helping the rest of the world in what they deal with (Bomb’s etc..) Yes they should have a base all over the world. Best of Hatzlucha! International Hatzolah Group When You need us we will be their! No Matter what it takes