MONTREAL — Arriving all spiffed up in their uniforms, Lt.-Cols. Eric Setton and Raanan Simchi looked every bit the part of on-duty Israel Defence Forces (IDF) military men.

Lt.-Cols. Raanan Simchi, left, and Eric Setton of the LIBI Fund

And in a very real sense, they were on duty.

Setton, a physician, and Simchi – both active officers in the IDF – were in Montreal recently to raise awareness about the LIBI Fund, an all-volunteer, non-profit Israeli organization that provides support for IDF soldiers through a wide array of social, cultural, educational and medical-support initiatives that aren’t covered by the Israeli defence budget.

These range from helping combat soldiers finish their high school diplomas and coaching immigrant soldiers in Hebrew to purchasing military ambulances and even providing tourniquets to soldiers on the front lines.

“We are one of Israel’s best-known organizations, but we are not really well-known here,” Setton, LIBI’s chief liaison officer, told The CJN in an interview.

According to an article in Ha’aretz earlier this year, the LIBI jingle is one of the most familiar in Israel: “Give your heart to LIBI [which means “my heart” in Hebrew],” it says, “and together we’ll be a wall of strength.”

Simchi, who joined Setton for the interview and is LIBI’s acting commander, noted that LIBI – a Hebrew acronym for Lema’an B’tochai Yisrael (roughly translated as “for the security of Israel”) –  hopes to start up a “Friends of” office in Montreal as its first presence in Canada.

Besides Israel, LIBI is most active in France and has an “American Friends of…” office in Boston.

Setton said that Montrealers Salomon Benchimol’s and Frederic Saadoun’s acquaintance with LIBI France president Gladys Tibi paved the way for his and Simchi’s first visit to Canada.

The visit was also part of an overall effort to build up LIBI’s support worldwide (its website address is www.libi-fund.org.il).

In Montreal, the two officers spoke to some 200 people at the Gelber Centre and met with such figures as Ralph Benatar, former president of the Communauté sépharade du Québec; Federation CJA president Marc Gold and Israeli Consul General Yoram Elron.

Gold, according to Simchi, expressed “strong sympathy” for the work of LIBI and expressed the view that Montreal, for decades a community “twinned” with Be’er Sheva in the Negev, would be a natural place to start up LIBI in Canada because of LIBI’s own activities in that same region.

There were two main points the men seemed to want to communicate: that every cent LIBI raises goes to Israeli soldiers, and that LIBI has been an integral part of turning immigrant IDF soldiers into full, patriotic members of Israeli society.

“That is the philosophy,” Simchi explained. “There is no segment of Israeli society we do not reach.”

“I was a Jew in the Diaspora,” Setton said. “When I came to Israel at age 18, the best way to integrate was the army – rich man, poor man, men, women. Through the army we were linked to the very source of Israeli society.”

The roots of the LIBI Fund actually go back to 1980, when it was launched by then-prime minister Menachem Begin and the late Lt.-Gen Rafael Eitan, then chief of the IDF’s general staff. LIBI’s chair, also a volunteer position, is still appointed by the prime minister, but the organization is supported entirely through donations.

Interestingly, Setton, who was born in France, made aliyah the same year LIBI was established. Before he took on his current volunteer position with LIBI last year, he was chief medical officer with the IDF’s Intelligence Corps.

Since 1980, the number of activities the LIBI Fund supports has grown exponentially, the two men said.

At the educational level, in addition to helping combat soldiers study for diplomas and teaching immigrant soldiers Hebrew, LIBI funds also go toward a “Cultural Sunday” program, financed in part by the Charles R. Bronfman Foundation, and other initiatives to expose soldiers to Israeli culture.

Besides military ambulances, LIBI’s medical projects include a rehab centre, a military medical centre in Be’er Sheva, and mobile intensive care units, medical simulators and an array of other state-of-the-art equipment. The LIBI Fund also provides financial assistance to disabled soldiers and families of fallen soldiers, as well as summer camps for widows and orphaned children, and grants to IDF orphans.

“We believe in LIBI and in [the IDF],” Simchi said. “You build a society through the army.”