Israeli ambassador makes a visit to Surfside,
In a show of what Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Gilad Erdan called his nation’s “close ties with the state of Florida,” Erdan arrived in Surfside Thursday, a week after the partial building collapse, to “express solidarity” and meet with victims’ families, volunteer groups, first responders and officials including Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has long professed staunch support for Israel.
In an interview with the Miami Herald, Erdan said his nation’s representatives on the ground — including a 15-person search-and-rescue team from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and a “psychological first aid” group from United Hatzalah that has worked in concert with the IDF — will “continue to work 24/7.”
Part of his mission for the two-day visit was to thank the Israeli forces on site for their efforts in collaboration with MiamiDade Fire Rescue and to ask if they are in need of further resources. The IDF’s most recent efforts, Erdan said, have included constructing a three-dimensional model of the building that will allow them “to dig, drill, or search in more accurate areas.”
The IDF team has also continued its strategy of in-depth interviews with family members of those missing to map out details of the apartments that can be useful to first responders — and convert the families from “passive” to “active” participants in the rescue work.
Asked how long the IDF Homefront Command team, which arrived Sunday, plans to remain on site, Erdan said there is no fixed departure date. “It’s up to the state or the mayor to decide, it’s not up to us,” he said. “We’ll do whatever they instruct our team to do.”
Erdan said he knows some of the Homefront Command members personally from previous rescue missions they have contributed to around the globe, including in Haiti, Albania and Turkey.
“Some of them are not so young,” he said. But even to the most experienced among them, the partial building collapse has been difficult. “They told me they never saw such a thing,” Erdan said. “It’s such a rare tragedy.”
Surfside is home to a large and tight-knit Jewish community, with four synagogues walking distance from the site of the partial collapse. Amid the crisis, a constant waft of kosher food from local restaurants and the sounds of volunteers speaking to each other in Hebrew hang in the air throughout the family resource center, along the business strip on Harding Avenue and in golf carts shuttling supplies between hotels and donation drop points.
But Erdan emphasized “this is not a Jewish tragedy, it’s a community tragedy.”
“When it comes to our closest ally, of course we want to be the first to come here and help,” Erdan said. “Let’s make that clear: It’s not because some of the people who are missing are Jewish.”
His decision to come to South Florida at this tragic moment, Erdan said, was a “no-brainer.”
Last month, city of Miami commissioners voted unanimously to invest $1 million of surplus funds in Israeli bonds as a “small token of support” for the nation, and held a ceremony to give the newly appointed Israeli consul general for Miami, Maor Elbaz-Starinsky, keys to the city.
“I think that everyone knows that we have very close ties, bonds, relations with the state of Florida and with Miami,” said Erdan, who is also Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations.
Just 10 days before the building collapse, DeSantis signed two bills — one authorizing a faith-based volunteer ambulance service and the other mandating a daily “moment of silence” in schools — at an event six blocks north of the Champlain South Towers. At the local synagogue, the Shul of Bal Harbour, a crowd of 300 cheered as the governor took the opportunity to reiterate how strongly he supports Israel.
At the event, Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez said DeSantis is the “most proIsrael governor in all of America,” echoing promises he had made at the beginning of his term.
Asked whether that label rings true for him, Erdan spoke highly of the governor.
“As an ambassador, I don’t give grades to anyone here,” Erdan said. “But he is well known as a great friend and supporter of Israel.”
But asked whether the governor has done a good job following through on that discussion in the time since, Erdan declined to answer directly, saying only that he does not “intend to give grades and compare between elected officials here,” but that DeSantis has been a
“great friend and ally of Israel.”
DeSantis has ardently denounced the movement to boycott or sanction Israel for its actions toward Palestinians, including creating a “scrutinized companies list” to punish groups like Airbnb, which de-listed home rentals in the West Bank, and passing legislation to combat anti-Semitism in universities, which also took aim at anti-Israel speech on campuses.
Erdan said that what will stay with him most from his visit is the flowers at the memorial wall.
“If you only see the ruins, the building and the cement, it’s a tragedy, but it looks cold,” he said. “And then you go to the wall, and you see all the faces and flowers. Even now when I describe it, I start shivering.”
Meeting with some of the families, “I was surprised how strong they are,” Erdan said. “It was heartwarming to hear what they think about the Israeli team supporting them, mostly mentally, giving them hope and including them in the efforts.”