2024: A Transformational Year of Sacrifice, Victory, and Enduring Needs for Israel’s Defenders

2024: A Transformational Year of Sacrifice, Victory, and Enduring Needs for Israel’s Defenders

As we step into 2025, it’s imperative to reflect on what can only be described as a “transformational year” for Israel and its defense forces. In a comprehensive year-in-review briefing on January 5, 2025, FIDF’s Steve Weil looked back at the strategic global events of 2024, the immense sacrifices made by the young men and women of the IDF, their remarkable achievements, and the evolving, critical needs that will shape the years to come.

2024: A Strategic Overview of IDF’s Multi-Front Engagement

Throughout 2024, the Israel Defense Forces  operated on multiple critical fronts to ensure Israel’s security. This included:

• Jordan Valley: Preventing Iranian equipment and weapons from reaching Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Judea and Samaria.
• Syrian Border: Ensuring Islamist groups that overthrew Assad did not breach the Golan Heights, mirroring the October 7th, 2023, attacks.
• Lebanon: Demolishing weapons depots of powerful rockets and missiles aimed at Israeli civilian centers.
• Gaza: Combating Hamas, which, though no longer a functional military operation, persists as a dangerous terrorist organization utilizing civilian shields.
• Judea and Samaria: Countering terrorist organizations in the face of the Palestinian Authority’s failure to maintain law and order. Over the preceding 15 months, the Israel Defense Forces  soldiers eliminated over 600 terrorists and arrested over 6,000 in this region, maintaining significant peace for Israelis and the hundreds of thousands of Jews living in their ancestral heartland.

The Unseen Scars: The Human Cost of Securing Israel

These vital operations have come at a tremendous price. Over 800 soldiers have lost their lives. The war has created over 200 new widows, more than 600 new orphans, and left 2,000 siblings grieving a lost brother or sister. Thousands more soldiers have been injured.

However, there’s a testament to progress and support: the death rate for wounded soldiers has been dramatically cut in half, from 15% in the 2006 war to 6.5% today. This improvement is thanks to advanced helmets, vests, equipment, and rapid extraction techniques by units like 669, significantly aided by over $40 million in FIDF-donated medical equipment, including off-road military ambulances and sophisticated tourniquets.

Turning the Tide: Key Military Victories of 2024

Despite the costs, 2024 witnessed profound military successes:

• Gaza: All 24 of Hamas’s battalions were rendered non-operational. While Muhammad Sinwar continues to direct terror, the broader Hamas leadership has been largely eliminated.
• Lebanon/Hezbollah: Top, second, and third-tier Hezbollah leadership responsible for decades of planning attacks against Northern Israel were eliminated. Following the Hezbollah war (September-November 2024), 85% of their rockets and launchers, and 80-85% of their killer drones, were destroyed. The extensive network of weaponized villages on the Israeli border, designed for an attack that would have dwarfed October 7th, was dismantled.
• Syria: The weakening of Hezbollah (due to Israeli efforts) led to the downfall of the Assad regime, with Sunni groups taking control. Israel seized this opportunity to eliminate 90% of Assad’s strategic assets, including chemical weapons facilities and Iranian underground warehouses storing missiles intended for Hezbollah. Critically, Israeli forces destroyed Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft batteries in Syria and Iran. This action significantly opened Syrian airspace, enabling Israeli refueling tankers to support potential missions to Iran, a crucial strategic advantage for confronting Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Weil described these events, particularly from mid-September to mid-December, as “nothing short of miraculous.” Israel is a far safer place today on its northern and southern borders as a result.

Ongoing Threats and Global Dynamics

Challenges persist. The Houthi regime in Yemen continues to launch ballistic missiles, threatening international trade through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and proving difficult to neutralize due to dispersed, Iranian-supplied weaponry.

Geopolitically, Israel’s fight is one that many Sunni Arab nations privately support, recognizing Israel as their defender against Iranian Shia hegemony, even while maintaining public criticism. Weil asserted that the Israel Defense Force ‘s sacrifices ultimately enable Western civilization to continue against the threat posed by Iran and its proxies, whose ultimate goal is the downfall of Christianity and the West.

A New Frontline: The Critical Battle Against PTSD

Looking forward, the needs of the soldiers are evolving and growing. While initial efforts focused on emergency medical equipment (over $40 million funded by FIDF), the most significant looming challenge is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Tens of thousands of soldiers are expected to face significant PTSD.

• Early Detection & Intervention: FIDF is funding battalion-level programs for early detection, which is crucial before PTSD becomes acute.
• Therapy & Resiliency Centers: A new $40 million Therapy and Resiliency Center is being planned. This center will also provide unprecedented resiliency training before combat to prepare soldiers. FIDF currently funds a major therapy center in a WeWorks facility in Tel Aviv for discharged soldiers and reservists.
• Training Therapists: Over 350 therapists have been trained in PTSD treatment through Sheba Medical Center, funded by FIDF, with facilities planned throughout Israel.
• Long-Term Support: Recognizing that PTSD can manifest decades later (as seen with Yom Kippur War veterans from 51 years ago), the support includes pharmacological aid and therapy/service dogs.

Comprehensive Support: FIDF’s Enduring Commitment

FIDF’s commitment extends to all facets of a soldier’s life and their families:

• Cohen Veteran Networks (CVN): In partnership with Steven Cohen, FIDF is establishing CVN centers in Israel (starting with two) to provide therapy and support for veterans and their families.
• Bereaved Families: $27 million has been allocated for multiple programs supporting the 200+ new widows and 600+ new orphans, including therapy, trips to Cyprus, the Legacy summer program in the US, summer camps in Israel, and creative networking opportunities, recognizing the unique power of peer support.
• Educational Programs (IMPACT!): Functioning as a “GI Bill,” FIDF funds university education and job training for soldiers from poor or lower-middle-class backgrounds, achieving a 96% graduation rate.
• Welfare for Soldiers in Poverty: FIDF is currently supporting 50,000 soldiers living under various degrees of poverty.

The Broader War: Defending More Than Just Borders

As reservists begin to return home, FIDF’s responsibilities will only grow. FIDF partners with both the Israel Defense Force’s  (responsible for soldiers during service) and the Ministry of Defense (responsible before, during, and especially after service for bereaved families and the wounded). The goal is to ensure these soldiers “have every chance possible to live the rest of their life in as healthy, as meaningful and as dynamic a way possible.”

These “modern-day Maccabees,” Weil concluded, are on the frontline of humanity, enabling a world of decency and morality against forces of corruption and perversion. Their sacrifice is not just for Israel or the Jewish people, but for the survival of Sunni Islam against Shia hegemony and for the continuation of Western civilization.

FIDF remains steadfast in its mission to care for their emotional, physical, spiritual, and educational needs, for the duration of their lives.