Beit Halochem UK raises £900,000 at their annual dinner for new Rehabilitation Centre in Ashdod

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Posted In: 27/06/16       Jerusalemonline.com      

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420 guests attended Beit Halochem’s annual dinner at the Dorchester on Tuesday Night.
Mrs Orly Wolfson, Dinner Chair and Trustee, welcomed the guests telling them that since 2015 alone, there had been 501 newly injured soldiers who had become members.

“They will now get all the help they need at our 4 centres as well as at the newly built centre in Ashdod.”

She said, “No matter how bad their injuries are, there are medical teams to look after them with treatment rooms, fully equipped and adapted fitness centres, hydrotherapy pools, a restaurant and social wing. Even childcare is provided on site for the families.’

She told the audience that we in the UK need to recognize the huge sacrifice the soldiers made for their country and how valuable a place like Beit Halochem is in helping them regain their dignity

Daniel Naftalin, a Trustee of the charity then introduced the guest speaker of the night, Professor Peter R Neumann – Professor of Security Studies at the Department of War Studies, Kings College London.

He gave the attendees a frightening yet real insight into the security threats facing Europe.
He talked about the role of the Internet, including Twitter and Facebook in allowing information to flow freely between IS supporters on a global scale.

“Radicalisation will remain serious for some time to come and it’s a complex operation dealing with it. Governments and civil society have to do more, Muslim society has to step up.”
He concluded the speech saying that his department had been instrumental in creating a UN Security resolution, bound by International law, which allows foreign fighters travelling to Iraq to be ‘Stopped and Sanctioned.’

Next on the stage was Mark Regev, The Ambassador of Israel who described the volatile state of the entire Middle Eastern region with Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya all disintegrating and how they demonstrated some of the worse cases of extremism.

“There are reasons why Israel is safe today. There are young men and women protecting Israel today just as their fathers and grandfathers did. Never take that for granted. In supporting BH we are doing justice and the right thing by these brave men and women.”

Guests then watched a film called ‘The beginning of the journey’- a fly on the wall documentary that described how Beit Holochem had helped severely injured soldiers, many of whom had lost limbs, get their lives back to some degree of normality.

We met amputee Einat Malka who in 1997 aged 19 was seriously injured and yet today she is able to run with the help of a special prosthesis.

Despite raising three children on her own, she helps out every day at the centre giving encouragement to other injured veterans.

“ At Beit Halochem we don’t give up. We pick them up, pull them back when they are falling apart. They begin their journey weak but we make them strong.”

The evening concluded with Dennis Levine, BHUK Chairman, giving the vote of thanks to all the supporters who played such a crucial role in the success of the charity.

Spencer Gelding CEO of the charity said afterwards “In the 4 years since the charity was set up in the UK, we have proved that with the right people and resources in place at our Rehabilitation Centres, the sky’s the limit for so many veterans.”

Click here to see more pictures from the event.