In 90 Seconds, the book written to celebrate United Hatzalah and its founder, readers are offered a stirring account of one of the NGO’s proudest moments. The text proclaims that “United Hatzalah has brought more than thirty-five planeloads of refugees out of the war zone of Ukraine to the safe shores of Eretz Yisrael.” It describes how Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, “sponsored a plane filled with refugees” and was presented with “a model of a bright-orange plane, the color of United Hatzalah—the color of rescue.” Kraft, we are told, “loved the plane that they gave him.”
The story is powerful. But the numbers don’t add up. In United Hatzalah’s own 2022 Year in Review, the organization reports that “Operation Orange Wings airlift operation evacuated 3,000 refugees to Israel” across “35 humanitarian, rescue, medical and cargo flights.” Divide 3,000 by 35, and you get an average of 85 passengers per flight. As I showed in The Orange Wings Question, a Boeing 737 seats 150–190 and even small regional jets carry 90–120. The “planeloads” celebrated in the book could just as easily have been half-empty cabins.
The official immigration data compounds the doubt. Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics recorded 12,175 Ukrainians arriving between February and July 2022. If United Hatzalah indeed brought 3,000, it would mean a private NGO accounted for nearly a quarter of all arrivals—a feat surely worthy of government briefings or acknowledgment from refugee agencies. None exist.
Even more troubling: United Hatzalah has never published passenger manifests or flight logs to substantiate its claim. According to its own website, no documentation of who flew, when, and on which aircraft has ever been made public. For an NGO soliciting tens of millions of dollars in donor funds, that absence is striking.
So which is it? Did Kraft underwrite a dramatic refugee airlift, or did he underwrite a story polished for donor appeal? United Hatzalah did provide valuable aid in Ukraine. But when 90 Seconds turns 85 passengers into “planeloads” without offering a single flight log, it risks crossing from narrative into misrepresentation.
Are you really Daniel Mael? I saw your many posts criticizing United Hatzalah, and I assumed you were another antisemitic troll and put you on mute. I had no idea what Hatzalah meant, I thought it was an antisemitic code word, like hasbarah. I realize you may have issue with this organization, but our enemies jump on things like this.