Friends of the Israel Defense Forces

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Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF) (in Hebrew: ארגון ידידי צה״ל בארה״ב) is an organization established in 1981 dedicated to the men and women serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), wounded veterans, and the families of fallen soldiers. Headquartered in New York City, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that operates fifteen regional offices in the United States and Panama.

In 2013, a new home for Lone Soldiers in Israel was opened in Ramat Gan with a special ceremony marking the completion of the $5 million project launched by Friends of the Israel Defense Forces and headed by Elias and Lila Kalimian and family of Great Neck, New York.^[3]

In the fall of 2014, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces' Western Region raised a record of more than $33 million in Beverly Hills, California. Other recent Friends of the Israel Defense Forces galas took place in Chicago ($2 million raised); Long Island, New York ($1.4 million raised); Michigan ($1 million raised); Boston ($800,000 raised at the gala and $4.1 million raised by the region this year); Northern New Jersey ($600,000 raised at the gala and $3 million raised by the region this year); Philadelphia; Ohio; San Francisco; San Diego; Baltimore; and Scarsdale, New York^[4]