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Friends of the Israel Defense Forces

Former hostage Edan Alexander speaks at a Friends of the IDF event on September 18, 2025. (Michael Priest Photography/FIDF)
September 19, 2025, 9:54 pm
‘Until victory’: Ex-hostage Edan Alexander announces he’s returning to IDF service
‘My story does not end with survival. It continues with service,’ former Gaza captive tells audience at US event
By ToI Staff, Jacob Magid and Emanuel Fabian
Over 1,200 people gather for a Friends of the IDF gala in New York on October 23, 2017. (Shahar Azran/FIDF)
July 9, 2025, 10:23 am
Friends of the IDF in crisis after internal report alleges financial abuse, toxic culture
Critics say chair consolidated power, authorized lavish spending, betrayed donors’ trust; organization accused of holding huge cash reserves but still fundraising
By Asaf Elia-Shalev
An IDF lone soldier hands a tailor a pair of trousers during an annual 'Errands Day' event in Tel Aviv on February 13, 2020. (Shahar Azran/Nefesh B'Nefesh)
February 14, 2020, 12:21 am
IDF, Nefesh B’Nefesh, FIDF make tasks easy for lone soldiers with ‘Errands Day’
Annual event brings government offices, utilities and other services under one roof so over 2,000 troops can pay bills, get licenses, renew passports and fix their clothes
By Judah Ari Gross
Draymond Green seemed to have a good time in the Jewish state. (Or Shkedy/Twitter via JTA)
July 13, 2018, 8:32 am
US left-wing activists blast Draymond Green over Israel trip
NBA star accused of being ‘horribly offensive’ in posing with Israeli weaponry on visit organized by Friends of the Israel Defense Forces
By Charles Dunst
Draymond Green seemed to have a good time in the Jewish state. (Or Shkedy/Twitter via JTA)
July 12, 2018, 5:20 am
NBA star shoots guns with Israeli police during visit, gets flack
Draymon Green’s firing range session comes under criticism by American left-wing activists
By Charles Dunst
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green meets with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem, July 4, 2018. (GPO)
July 5, 2018, 10:51 pm
Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green visits Israel
President Rivlin tells visiting All-Star forward it was a ‘true pleasure’ to watch him defend against Lebron James during NBA Finals
Gene Simmons attends a Friends of the Israel Defense Forces gala in Beverly Hills on November 5, 2015. (Noam Chem)
November 5, 2017, 7:20 pm
Record $53.8 million raised for IDF soldiers at Beverly Hills gala
Larry Ellison donates $16.6 million, says, ‘Since Israel’s founding, we have called on the brave men and women of the IDF to defend our home’
By JTA
Over 1,200 people gather for a Friends of the IDF gala in New York on October 23, 2017. (Shahar Azran/FIDF)
October 24, 2017, 1:24 pm
$35 million raised by Friends of the IDF for Israeli troops
Group says donations from Sheldon Adelson, others to be distributed to combat veterans, ‘lone soldiers’
By Judah Ari Gross
Cheryl Saban (left), Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman (center) and former Member of Knesset Shachiv Shanan (center, right) watch as Friends of the Israel Defense Forces National Board Member Haim Saban (center, left) breaks ground at the site of the new FIDF Druze Soldiers Heritage Center, July 2017 (Scally photography).
July 31, 2017, 1:44 am
Haim Saban, wife fund Druze Soldiers Heritage Center in northern Israel
The new building will serve as a rest and recreation center for active-duty and discharged soldiers as well as a memorial for fallen Druze security personnel
By JTA
Jared Kushner, senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, listens as Trump delivers remarks to auto industry executives at American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti, Michigan on March 15, 2017. (AFP/Nicholas Kamm)
March 25, 2017, 2:31 pm
Trump son-in-law’s ties to Israel raise questions of bias
Jared Kushner’s personal links to Netanyahu, and his family’s deals with major Israeli companies, could undermine US Mideast peace efforts
By Daniel Estrin
Sofa Landver, Minister of Immigration, and Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Nefesh B’Nefesh with Lone Soldiers, February 2017. (Shahar Azran/Nefesh B'Nefesh)
February 18, 2017, 3:16 am
Israeli civil servants muster to help 1,500 ‘lone soldiers’
Nefesh B’Nefesh organizes event to help disentangle bureaucracy for immigrants, troops
By JTA
Actor Robert De Niro (Miriam Alster/Flash 90)
November 6, 2016, 5:42 pm
De Niro strong-arms Schwarzenegger over Trump
Actor refuses to pose for photo with former governor at Friends of the IDF gala dinner in California
By Stuart Winer
Jonathan Bernstein
September 30, 2016, 4:07 pm
Jonathan Bernstein
Cycling across Israel — A daily journal
Father and son biked 400 miles up and down the country, bonding with each other, the IDF, and the land itself
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Las Vegas on June 18, 2016. (AFP/John Gurzinski)
July 15, 2016, 4:52 am
Trump pledged $250K to Friends of IDF, someone else paid
The Washington Post look into GOP candidate’s charitable giving finds unnamed donor covered for him in 2007
By JTA
Jack Lew with President Barack Obama in the White House ( AP/Susan Walsh, File)
December 31, 2015, 11:04 pm
US Treasury secretary named in suit over tax-free donations to Israel
Lawsuit aims to revoke nonprofit status of groups giving to Jewish state; American Palestinian writer said among litigants
By JTA
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