Will Edan Alexander Be Forced to Fundraise for His Own Helmet?

Edan Alexander’s courage is unquestioned. FIDF’s commitment to soldiers’ real needs is not.

Edan Alexander’s words should have brought the house down. Standing before a lavish Friends of the IDF gala in New York City, the 21-year-old American-Israeli soldier, recently freed after 584 days in Hamas captivity, declared: “My story does not end with survival. It continues with service.” He closed with a vow in Hebrew: ad hanetzachon, “until victory.”

It was the kind of moment donors dream of, a living symbol of resilience. Yet behind the applause is a sobering question: when Alexander returns to combat next month, will he be properly outfitted? Or, like thousands of his comrades after October 7 (and prior to 10/7), will he be forced to rely on family WhatsApp groups and crowdfunding drives to secure the most basic gear?

FIDF’s record provides little reassurance. Its new CEO, Nadav Padan, led the charge against supplying frontline troops with essentials. He dismissed pleas for helmets and vests as “noise” and accused families of “stealing leadership time.” He mocked soldiers who begged for updated helmets, comparing them to spoiled college kids asking for new cars. He even told donors that “spiritual support” was “the best ammunition” they could send. Meanwhile, reservists were sent into Gaza with helmets stamped from the 1970s.

At the very moment soldiers were begging for equipment, including those who might have been called to rescue Alexander himself, FIDF executives were booking suites at the King David Hotel and spending emergency funds on flip-flops. Donors were reassured with slick presentations while soldiers bled with inadequate armor.

The question for donors is simple: are you funding helmets and vests, or flip-flops and hotel suites. Applause at a gala may feel gratifying, but it does not protect a soldier in Gaza. If Friends of the IDF truly exists to meet critical needs, then the measure is not the size of its dinners but whether Edan Alexander and his comrades walk into combat with the gear that keeps them alive.

That is the backdrop to Alexander’s return. His decision is inspiring, but it is also a test. Will FIDF finally put the dollars it raises toward the gear soldiers actually need, or will Alexander and his comrades once again be forced to fill the gaps themselves?

Alexander has already proven his resolve. The applause will mean nothing if, when he puts the uniform back on, he still has to beg for a helmet that belongs in this century.