On October 7, in towns and villages all over the Gaza Border region, members of emergency standby squads rushed into battle to defend their families and their homes. Severely outnumbered and outgunned, they were Israel’s front-line of defense against thousands of machine gun and RPG-wielding terrorists. As these Israeli civilian defense groups fought for their lives for hours on end, many of them didn’t even have helmets, vests, or other basic gear.
Civil Squads of Israel was co-founded by Nir Alon of Kibbutz Sufa, right after October 7, to address this exact issue. The impetus for founding Civil Squads came from Alon’s friend, emergency standby squad member Ido Hubara, was murdered on October 7. Hubara, who died of a head injury he sustained just two houses down from Alon’s mother’s home, didn’t have access to a helmet.
Civil Squads’ executive director Daniel Buchen and adviser Alon Tirer, who were both brought on board right after the organization’s founding, define the goals of the organization clearly: “Our goal is that if this ever happens again, the emergency standby squads will be as prepared as possible,” Buchen tells me. He adds that “We understood that if Ido had access to the proper protective equipment, he might be alive today.”
“Specifically, preparation means providing vital equipment to all the towns and kibbutzim 0-7 kilometers from the Gaza border, and 0-4 kilometers from the Lebanon border,” Tirer explains, adding that Civil Squads has started serving the communities in the Sharon region, which border Tulkarm and Kalkilya and live in fear of an October 7-style terrorist infiltration, as well.
“So protective gear was the initial thought,” Buchen adds, “but along the way we saw that there are a lot of other things that need taking care of as well, such as firefighting, providing firefighting gear, and training first responders... There was a massive need to train emergency standby squads to firefight and to get them the necessary equipment.”
Israel has one of the lowest rates of firefighters in the developed world, and as the North goes up in flames for months on end due to Hezbollah rocket fire, residents are left to deal with the situation alone, untrained, and underequipped.
“You have this situation where emergency standby squads with no training or protective equipment are forced to do this alone,” Buchen explains.
That’s why in addition to providing bulletproof vests, helmets, and other gear, Civil Squads has started raising money for and gathering protective, first responder, and firefighting equipment.
“We also partner with domain experts to train local residents,” Buchen adds. “For example, we partnered with an Australian charity called Operation Fire Support that trains emergency response teams to handle fires. In total, we organized more than 100 hours of first responder workshops in first responder safety and community wildfire prevention, to over 20 frontline communities in the North and South.”
“Operation Fire Support came to Israel to train the emergency standby squads, and Civil Squads of Israel managed all of the logistics and localization of the program,” Tirer explains.
While Civil Squads started out as being very tactically focused, they quickly understood that the residents of Israel’s periphery had much broader disaster-preparedness training needs as well.
“Now we’re going around the communities and equipping and training them,” as well ass making them aware of the services and support available to them, Buchen says.
At a recent vest delivery event for residents in the Sharon region in cooperation with the Friends of Israel charity, for example, Civil Squads came with two main goals. The first was to provide local residents with the protective equipment that they need in order to defend their communities, and the second was to raise awareness about the vital equipping and training services that Civil Squads provides.
Where are the State and the institutions?
One of the biggest issues facing Civil Squads since the start of the war is that there are very few systems in place to coordinate and provide equipment, for civil defense or volunteer firefighters and first responders, at the massive, nation-wide scale that is needed.
For example, a wealthy Jewish donor might donate to Israeli firefighters, but with massive rocket barrages striking all over the North every day for nine months, and with firefighters spread out over such an extensive area, much of the actual firefighting is done by local first responders and volunteers.
Until Civil Squads came along there were very few channels, governmental, NGO, or civilian, who were collecting money for these volunteers or making sure that they get the training and equipment they need.
“It’s the same for bulletproof vests and helmets,” Buchen tells me. Lots of people raised money for soldiers. Very few for emergency standby squads.”
The main challenge remains in the world of funds and awareness, Tirer emphasizes. “There is awareness in Israel about the plight of emergency standby squads, but not internationally.”
Most international donors, they explain, know about the importance of equipping IDF soldiers. But many just aren’t yet aware of the plight, for example, of the civilians – local residents, farmers, middle aged fathers, and just average people without much disaster-preparedness training – who stayed behind to protect their villages in the North, and who face down constant rocket barrages, massive fires, and the threat of terrorist infiltration.
Part of the challenge, Buchen explains, is helping people understand the big difference between institutional NGOs – which work on a long-term plan, addressing broad issues, and are supported by a pre-existing pool of donors, and war NGOs like Civil Squads of Israel – which are brought about by necessity and address immediate life or death issues, but which are not necessarily known to donors abroad.
Protecting Israel’s citizens, against all odds
Civil Squads of Israel is 100% volunteer-based, so fundraising is the only way for them to keep doing the work that they do to empower Israel’s citizens.
That said, in the past nine months since the start of the war, Civil Squads has managed so far to raise $600,000, to provide training and safety courses for front-line volunteers all across Israel’s North and South, and to deliver 1,200 bulletproof vests, hundreds of helmets, and other tactical equipment to those in need.
In addition, the rapid initiation the Civil Squads of Israel sets a precedent for disaster response. Israel is the Start-up Nation, known for its resourcefulness, creativity, and for finding innovative solutions to difficult issues. As the State of Israel faces down some of the biggest, most serious threats in its history, Civil Squads serves as an example of how a few motivated individuals can come together to address complex issues.
As we continue to face challenges and existential threats on all fronts, Civil Squads of Israel serves as an example of the power of even just a few determined Israelis with a plan.
Website: https://www.civilsquadisrael.com