The annual Beit Halochem Golf Day 2019 raised £12,000. It took place on Thursday 9 May at Hartsbourne Country Club to raise funds for our four rehabilitation centres. Yakir Amiri, a Beit Halochem veteran, who was severely injured whilst locating tunnels during Operation Protective Edge, spoke movingly during the lunch. He spoke about his life-threatening injuries and the death of his friend, his rehabilitation, his thoughts on the IDF and his life today.

Yakir was drafted in to the IDF during the winter of 2011 and served as an operational officer at the combat engineering corps. In 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, he was sent into Gaza to locate and destroy Hamas tunnels. One week in, they were informed about a suspicious location and Yakir led his team in to the vicinity to search for the tunnel. They were hit by a missile and Yakir suffered extensive injuries to his stomach and leg.  He immediately tried to resuscitate his friend Moshiko who had lost consciousness. Yakir was evacuated to the border and from there taken by helicopter to Tel Hashomer hospital. Following his surgery 24 hours later, he was told that his friend Moshiko was killed immediately.

The event, which included breakfast, a buffet lunch and a raffle raised £12,000 for the Beit Halochem rehabilitation centres in Israel which looks after the 51,000 wounded IDF veterans for the rest of their lives. Yakir praised the charity and thanked Beit Halochem for all the support he received during the first few years following his injury.