Yair Netanyahu joins United Hatzalah as a volunteer

Sources close to the organization said that the younger Netanyahu has been fundraising for the organization, including for two ambulances.

 Yair Netanyahu volunteering at United Hatzalah (photo credit: UNITED HATZALAH‏)
Yair Netanyahu volunteering at United Hatzalah
(photo credit: UNITED HATZALAH‏)

Yair Netanyahu, the son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has landed a volunteer position at United Hatzalah, The Jerusalem Post confirmed. 

Sources close to the organization said that the younger Netanyahu has been fundraising for the organization, including for two ambulances, each costing around $250,000.

Controversy around Yair's volunteering

"We have a link for people to register to volunteer," explained United Hatzalah Founder and President Eli Beer. "And Yair registered. We thought it was someone playing a prank on us. But when the team got back to him, it was Yair, and he said he would volunteer to do anything."

Beer said that he knows some people have concerns with Netanyahu, including that he stayed in Florida, where he has been living for about the past year, when the war broke out, rather than returning home to do national service. However, he said, "We're an organization that has ultra-Orthodox, secular, and Arabs [volunteering]. Arabs work with settlers, women with men, and Sephardic with Ashkenazic.

A United Hatzalah ambulance. (credit: UNITED HATZALAH‏)
A United Hatzalah ambulance. (credit: UNITED HATZALAH‏)

"We would take Benjamin Netanyahu's son, Yair Lapid's son and Natali Bennett's son," Beer continued. "We don't judge people by their political positions but by their actions. We don't care who the person is if he wants to help save lives.

"Yair came and said he wants to volunteer, so God bless him."

Netanyahu was in Florida when the war broke out. He returned last week. He came under fire on social media and in at least two British newspapers that published interviews with IDF reservists expressing their disappointment in his failure to enlist. 

Maariv contributed to his report.