Israel sends firefighting and rescue experts to aid US with LA fire
"The special relationship between America and Israel on display!" The House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans said on X Saturday.
By MICHAEL STARRUpdated: JANUARY 22, 2025 07:29 An air tanker drops fire retardant at the Palisades Fire, one of simultaneous blazes that have ripped across Los Angeles County, as seen from Woodland Hills, neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, U.S. January 11, 2025.(photo credit: REUTERS/RINGO CHIU)
A delegation of Israeli firefighting experts went to California on Thursday to aid American firefighters combat the Los Angeles fires, the Foreign Ministry, Israel Fire Rescue Service, and National Security Ministry announced in a joint statement.
The Israeli experts will share their professional knowledge and experience on preventing spread, containing, and controlling fires with counterpart agencies in LA. An IDF Home Front Command representative is set to share their experience in disaster response and in formulating situation reports.
A team of Israeli firefighters and wildfire experts has arrived in Los Angeles to assist with ongoing wildfires, hosted by the Consulate General of Israel and Israeli Police and Attaché Gal Ben Ish. They’re working alongside local units and Cal-OES, using advanced Israeli… pic.twitter.com/qP22SSyRVl
The Israeli consulate in Los Angeles said on X on Friday that the experts would be working alongside local fire fighting units and the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services using “advanced Israeli technology to help contain the fires.”
“This delegation is further evidence of the friendship and deep commitment of the relations between Israel and the United States, and of the importance that the State of Israel places in assisting its great friend as it deals with one of the largest fires that the state of California has ever known,” said the Israeli ministries.
California Congressman Brad Sherman welcomed the Israel firefighters, noting that Israel was absorbing the costs of the delegation.
The Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center smolders after burning in the Eaton Fire in Pasadena, California, Jan. 8, 2025. (credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
'Relationship between America and Israel on display'
“The special relationship between America and Israel on display!” The House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans said on X Saturday.
The Israeli ministries and the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia said that the Israeli experts were sent with the assistance of the Emergency Volunteers Project, an organization funded by the federation and established 16 years ago to aid Israeli emergency services during national disasters.
Israeli NGO Lev Echad sent its own delegation of emergency response experts last Tuesday, hoping to help with the development of infrastructure to improve aid efforts in the LA area.
“The goal of the delegation is to work in collaboration with local leadership, aid organizations, and new volunteers, providing tools to build unified systems that enhance community response and recovery,” said Lev Echad CEO Tomer Dror.
Pacific Southwest Israeli Consul General Israel Bachar related that on Thursday he visited the Pasadena and Altadena Jewish community and saw the ruins of the 90-year-old Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center. Bachar said on social media Friday that the consulate delivered support to the community.
Local Jewish groups have also started their own initiatives, with the Jewish Federation Los Angeles working to provide mental health support, meals, and shelter for people displaced by the fires. The Jewish group said on its website that it also started a Wildfire Crisis Relief Fund to “support our neighbors affected by this catastrophic event.”
“In these challenging times, the strength and resilience of our Los Angeles community shines brightest,” JFEDLA said on its website. “Together, we can support those in need and help rebuild what has been lost.”
While Israeli projects have sought to aid victims of the fire, the Adalah Justice Project and Jewish Voice for Peace took to social media on January 10 to blame Israel for the severity of the disaster.
“Billions for genocide abroad worsen environmental crises at home,” Adalah and JVP said in an Instagram post criticizing the US government for aid to Israel that could have been used to respond to the LA fires.
The anti-Israel groups claimed that the Israeli war against Gazan terrorist organizations had “emitted more carbon than twenty of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries” in a year, “exacerbating climate change.”
Code Pink also connected the war in Gaza to the LA fires, claiming on Substack that a war economy was prioritized over “respect for indigenous caretaking practices and life.”
“Amidst a world that has gone through imperialist ecocidal war for decades, the world’s biodiversity, much of which is in sovereign indigenous land, has been decimated,” Code Pink said earlier in January.
