Why Gal Lusky works to save lives in war-torn places

Nobody asks for permission to kill, and NGO Israeli Flying Aid (IFA) doesn’t ask permission to save lives.

That’s the IFA slogan, according to founder and CEO Gal Lusky, recently in South Africa for a visit thanks to the Israel South Africa Forum, who spoke of the work her foundation does in war-torn countries where medical help is often prevented.

Like many people, Lusky’s goal was to complete her education, find a job, and get on with her life. Until the day her brother, serving in the Israeli defence force, was badly wounded.

“I was six months away from my degree when one day” – Lusky’s voice trailed off, remembering that painful day. “In Israel, when somebody knocks at your door wearing a uniform, it’s always bad news. My brother was wounded very badly in Lebanon, a week before his birthday,” Lusky said.

When he finally went home, he made the decision to join the army, and invited Lusky to sign up with him. It was then she decided, being grateful for the medical technology which had restored her brother to her, to bring that same medical help to innocents caught in other civil wars.

Her first stop was in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide.

“After that, I took my savings and started to move around the world until, 10 years later, I established my NGO, IFA,” said Lusky. “When the law clashes with justice, we go for justice.”

Cross-border aid soon became a norm for IFA volunteers, with one difference: permission to do so was almost never granted, either by Israel or the country IFA was visiting.

The volunteers instead relied on local contacts living close to border limits, and life-saving aid would be driven in and distributed directly to wounded and starving people, without warlords or governments at war with themselves looting supplies and equipment.

At times, because a country was hostile to Israel, IFA would go in under another NGO’s banner.

“The message wasn’t about embarrassing anybody, it was about delivering aid,” Lusky said. The NGO has worked in Syria, the Haiti earthquake of 2010 where 230,000 people died, the 2015 Nepal earthquake which killed 11,500 people, and many more.

– amandaw@citizen.co.za

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