At a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser held at Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on March 9th for Israel Defense Forces (IDF) honoring Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen Gabi Ashenazi who was guest of honor, over $20 million was raised.

Ashkenazi, who was enroute to meet with top U.S. officials in Washington, DC said Iran’s nuclear program remains a threat, and called on the international community to stop the Islamic regime.

Among people speaking at the event was an Ethopian-born soldier and a doctor who served in the Israeli field hospital in Haiti, a video message from Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and Navy officers who spoke via satellite from Israel.

According to the report by Jeweye.com, “…many were moved to tears when Guy Banai, the deaf father of a fallen IDF soldier, addressed the audience through an interpreter, telling them that his son had been his connection to the outside world, his ‘right hand.’ Exempt from combat duty, Liron Banai chose to serve in combat and died after his jeep was hit by a roadside bomb in Gaza. His father struggled to convey the ‘darkness’ of the past two years without his son.

“I’m proud of Liron, I’m proud of our soldiers, I’m proud of our army and I’m proud of our country,” Guy Banai said.

According to Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “St.-Sgt Liran Banai, 20, of Ashkelon, critically wounded when Palestinian terrorists ambushed an IDF jeep patrolling the Gaza Strip border last Thursday (6 March 2008), died of his wounds in Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center.”

IDF fundraiser – jewkey.com/manhattan-ny-idf-general-ashkenazi-raises-over-20m-at-fundraiser-in-waldorf-astoria-hotel/featured/

Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs – www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Terrorism-+Obstacle+to+Peace/Memorial/2008/Victims/Liran+Banai.htm