Open Invitation To President Herzog To Visit Gilat Compound

A few childhood friends who are all CEO’s decided they had to do something to help the war effort. It started with making thousands of hamburgers for soldiers next to the Gaza Strip — which is what they’ve continued to do every single day since October 8th. Yes — that’s a lot of BBQ’s …

I’d like to say they’re your typical Israeli CEO’s — but there is nothing typical about this bunch. First — they are bonded by their love for this country. And second — they are bonded by their love for doing for others. And that’s exactly why their bond just keep growing and getting stronger, which allows them to continue finding new ways to lift everyone.

I’d like to say they’re your typical Israeli CEO’s — but there is nothing typical about this bunch. First — they are bonded by their love for this country. And second — they are bonded by their love for doing for others.

A New Kind of Startup

When they saw how big the movement was getting — they had to make things official. Swords of Iron was born, they received a Kashrut certificate, and kept adding more and more things like laundry service, hot showers, a library, a barber shop, pancakes, and now there’s also SWAG — only in Hebrew so far, but they promise to have English by next week. It’s a great way to support this cause. They are even bringing hamburgers to soldiers in the most remote areas. Along with the hot showers.

Here is the JGive campaign if you feel you want to contribute.

Every evening there is live entertainment in the huge Gilat Compound with music and dancing — amazing to see that Israeli spirit alive and stronger than ever before. All being provided on a voluntary basis.

Open Letter To The President

I wanted to share this letter they sent to President Herzog last week who is doing an amazing job in my opinion (click here for the original letter in Hebrew) -

Dear President Herzog,

The October 7th events affected us all. Certainly at the national level, but without a doubt also at the personal level. Each of us has experienced the loss of an acquaintance, friend, relative, loss of identity, of security and there’s a general feeling of a great lack.

These events have taught us that together we can achieve extraordinary achievements.

At the same time, these events have taught us that together we can achieve extraordinary achievements. For this purpose, our Swords of Iron nonprofit was established.

We would like to share with you what we’ve been doing since the 8th of October.

Who are we? Five good friends, business owners, each of us engaged in a completely different field, but what unites us is love. For the country, its people and to the belief that good must prevail. Tzachi Kafri — CEO and owner of Kafri Drive, Moran Rosenberg — CEO and owner of Ido Technologies, Alex Schupak — CEO and owner of Ronen El, Assaf Gozlan — CEO and owner of Yevolei Hakfar, Shlomi Haroush, owner and CEO of M.S. Haroush catering and food services.

On that wretched Sabbath, we realized that we must act. We couldn’t stand by and watch what was happening, without giving some kind of answer to the many hardships that suddenly arose. By that evening we has already mobilized ourselves, our personal wealth, all the friends and connections we have made throughout our lives. And ever since then, we’ve been “in the field”, working continuously. We started out modestly, and in the first week we provided hot food to about 500–1000 soldiers a day.

As the days progressed, and the needs from the area increased, we established a compound in the south (in cooperation with the security forces and the community), which is reached by thousands of soldiers every day who come to eat hot food, equip themselves, and receive strength and a loving hug from the home front. There isn’t a soldier who doesn’t know about the “Gilat Compound” and “The A Team” (Ztevet La’Inyan in Hebrew).

While all this was happening we organized our non-profit status as quickly as possible, to be able to continue to respond to any needs we hear about from the soldiers.

Since the eighth of October, the movement has been growing stronger, and we now have over 1200 volunteers.

In the compound, in addition to the hot food, the soldiers also enjoy laundry services, a barber shop, a library, physiotherapy stations and other treats.

We have special teams that have received approval from the security forces that bring hot hamburgers to the fighting units in the field, for those that are not allowed to come to our compound. We work directly with the commanders in the field, who have our direct numbers and call us for any shortage to do with food, equipment or anything else.

We provide soldiers with equipment such as shoes, thermal suits, sleeping bags, towels, coats and more.

We set up an array of portable showers that arrive in the field so the soldiers can get a hot shower. It’s impossible to describe the face of that soldier who hasn’t showered for three weeks.

We know how to act quickly and precisely when we have a single in mind, and that is to provide strong support to our soldiers when they go out to fight for our home.

We are also in constant contact with the community leaders of the surrounding settlements who were significantly affected on October 7th, and try to provide a sensitive response to their needs. We recruited the Jewish community in Munich who donated an armored ambulance to the Eshkol Regional Council, and we purchased a tractor for Kibbutz Nir Oz from donations.

We invite you to visit our compound at Gilat Junction, to experience our significant activity in the South, and the amazing energy surrounding this initiative. The place allows us, our volunteers and the soldiers to continue to maintain optimism in these difficult days, and we’d love to share some of it with you.

We look forward to meeting you, and hope to receive your valuable support.

Kind regards,

Swords of Iron Founders — Tzachi Kafri, Moran Rosenberg, Alex Schupak, Asaf Gozlan, and Shlomi Haroush.