Eli Beer is the founder of United Hatzalah of Israel, and President of the U.S.-based organization Friends of United Hatzalah. United Hatzalah of Israel is an independent, non-profit, fully-volunteer emergency medical services organization that provides fast and free emergency medical first response throughout Israel.
Early life and education
On June 2, 1978, Beer witnessed the bombing of the #12 bus. He was struck by the chaos of the incident and the dearth of emergency rescue resources. This traumatic experience inspired him to volunteer on an ambulance at the age of 15, while attending school and working in his family’s book and real estate business. At the age of 17 Beer realized that a more flexible system had to be established to improve emergency response times. He was familiar with the Hatzalah model established in the United States and began to organize a similar model by launching a volunteer unit in his Jerusalem neighborhood. This unit purchased their own communication gear, medical equipment and supplies and was funded by the community.
Hatzalah Israel and United Hatzalah of Israel
Beer began to work with Hatzalah Jerusalem in 1992. With him as fundraiser and operational coordinator the organization grew and changed its name to Hatzalah Israel reflecting its nationwide scope. Hatzalah Israel acted as an umbrella organization, incorporating many Hatzalah chapters that had been established throughout the country. In 2006 Beer changed the name of the organization to United Hatzalah to represent the partnership of Jewish, Muslim, Druze and Christian volunteers from all religious spectrums working together in order to save lives. United Hatzalah established its reputation as an EMS organization by being at the forefront of medical innovation. It was the first EMS to introduce the Ambucycle, a motorcycle equipped with all the medical equipment of an ambulance aside from a stretcher, which allowed its volunteer first responders to reach the patient on average of 3 minutes across Israel, 8 to 15 minutes ahead of the first ambulance. In 2008, United Hatzalah launched Israel's first GPS-based dispatch system, which was able to locate and dispatch the five closest EMS responders within 3 seconds of the emergency. In 25 years, the organization has grown to more than 5,000 volunteer medical responders treating over 300,000 people per year. All services are provided free of charge to all citizens regardless of race or religion. Beer's vision is to bring United Hatzalah's life-saving model to other communities across the world. In 2015, he expanded internationally with the establishment of branches in South America and other countries, including "United Rescue" in Jersey City, US, where the response time was reduced to just two minutes and thirty-five seconds. During his voluntary career as an EMT, Beer has been a medical responder at the scenes of the Ben Yehuda Street bombings, the Versailles Wedding Hall disaster, the Second Lebanon War in the north, and Operation Cast Lead in the south.
Early life and education
Social Entrepreneur of the Year, Israel (2010)
Beer received the Social Entrepreneur Award from the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in cooperation with the World Economic Forum of Davos in 2010. The award is given to those driving social innovation and transformation in various fields including education, health, environment and enterprise development.
Presidential Award for Volunteerism, Israel (2011)
Beer received the Presidential Award for Volunteerism from Shimon Peres, the President of the State of Israel in 2011. The award is given to individuals and groups whose volunteering effort is deemed to be outstanding in a given year by a committee. Twelve awardees are chosen each year.
Nominated by a committee chaired by H.M. Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan for his efforts to create a multicultural, apolitical medical rescue organization, Beer was chosen to become one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders in 2012. Young Global Leaders come from 65 countries and are honored for their outstanding leadership, professional accomplishments and commitment to society.
The Institute of International Education awards the Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East annually to recognize outstanding work being conducted jointly by two individuals, one Arab and one Israeli, working together to advance the cause of peace in the Middle East. Beer received the prize together with Murad Alian, the Coordinator of United Hatzalah's East Jerusalem Team.
World Values Network, Champion of Human Life Award (2016)
Beer received the Champion of Human Life Award at the Fourth Annual Champions of Jewish Values International Awards Gala, sponsored by the World Values Network, a prestigious platform established by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, recognizing those who strive to positively affect society.
The CER Prize is awarded to digital and web-based ventures that have potential to change the world and improve lives. Beer was awarded the CER Internet Entrepreneur Prize in Helsinki, for developing United Hatzalah's LifeCompass app, which automatically dispatches the five closest EMT responders within three seconds of an emergency.
In April 2020, Beer tested positive for COVID-19 amidst the worldwide pandemic and was taken to an intensive care unit for treatment. He recovered from the disease and was greeted by several of United Hatzalah workers upon returning.
Additional achievements
Beer was invited to be a speaker on April 2013 on TEDMED, an annual conference about health and medicine. His talk was later featured on the TED website.
Personal life
Beer is married to Gitty, and they have five children: four girls and a boy.
