Eli Beer

Early life, education

On June 2, 1978, Beer witnessed the bombing of the #12 bus. He was struck by the chaos of the incident and the dearth of emergency rescue resources. This traumatic experience inspired him to volunteer on an ambulance at the age of 15, while attending school and working in his family’s book and real estate business.

At the age of 17 Beer realized that a more flexible system had to be established to improve emergency response times. Beer was familiar with the Hatzalah model established in the United States and began to organize a similar model by launching a volunteer unit in his Jerusalem neighborhood. This unit purchased their own communication gear, medical equipment and supplies and was funded by the community.

Hatzalah Israel and United Hatzalah of Israel

Beer began to work with Hatzalah Jerusalem in 1992. With Beer as fundraiser and operational coordinator the organization grew and changed its name to Hatzalah Israel reflecting its nationwide scope . Hatzalah Israel acted as an umbrella organization, incorporating many Hatzalah chapters that had been established throughout the country.

In 2006 citing a lack of transparency and administrative effectiveness in Hatzalah Israel, Eli Beer formally left the organization and established United Hatzalah of Israel. A core group of professionals quickly joined the new organization and were followed by Hatzalah chapters throughout the country. In 2008 the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profit organizations formally shut down Hatzalah Israel and all remaining operational assets were absorbed by United Hatzalah of Israel.

Today United Hatzalah of Israel has over 2000 EMT’s, paramedics and doctors volunteering 24/7/365 across the entire country.

During his voluntary career as an EMT, Beer has been a medical responder at the scenes of the Ben Yehuda Street bombings, the Versailles Wedding Hall disaster, the Second Lebanon War in the north, and Operation Cast Lead in the south.

Social Entrepreneur of the Year, Israel (2010)

Beer received the Social Entrepreneur Award from the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in cooperation with the World Economic Forum of Davos in 2010. The award is given to those driving social innovation and transformation in various fields including education, health, environment and enterprise development.

Presidential Award for Volunteerism, Israel (2011)

Beer received the Presidential Award for Volunteerism from Shimon Peres, the President of the State of Israel in 2011. The award is given to individuals and groups whose volunteering effort is deemed to be outstanding in a given year by a committee. Twelve awardees are chosen each year.

Young Global Leader, Davos (2012)

Nominated by a committee chaired by H.M. Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan for his efforts to create a multicultural, apolitical medical rescue organization, Beer was chosen to become one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders in 2012. Young Global Leaders come from 65 countries and are honored for their outstanding leadership, professional accomplishments and commitment to society.

The Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East (2013)

The Institute of International Education (IIE) awards the Victor J. Goldberg IIE Prize for Peace in the Middle East annually to recognize outstanding work being conducted jointly by two individuals, one Arab and one Israeli, working together to advance the cause of peace in the Middle East. Beer received the prize together with Murad Alian, the Coordinator of United Hatzalah's East Jerusalem Team.

Additional achievements

Eli Beer was invited to be a speaker on April 2013 on TEDMED, an annual conference about health and medicine. His talk was later featured on the TED website.

Personal life

Eli Beer is married to Gitty and they have five children, four girls and a boy.