North Texans gathered in Plano on Thursday night to show their support for the Israeli military.
Friends of the IDF is a charity that raises money to support the IDF’s frontline soldiers.
Among these “lone soldiers,” who include at least 21 Texans, are young men and women who have no relatives living in Israel yet have left their homes to help defend it.
Megan Daniels, a recent graduate of Parish Episcopal School, is one of them.
When Daniels became 18, she could have gone off to college, but she took a different route.
According to Eddie Daniels, Megan’s father, “Megan, I think hatched this plan when she was on a visit to Israel in middle school.” “She wanted to be a part of supporting Israel in the way that she thought was best and that was joining the IDF.”
At the age of 19, Daniels is fulfilling her military obligation as a dual American-Israeli citizen.
On the morning that Hamas launched its attack, she was working in Tel Aviv.
Taryn and Eddie Daniels said their daughter contacted to let them know she was fine before the news had reached the United States.
“At first, I imagine there will be some skepticism due to the element of surprise, much as there was after September 11th. The onion keeps revealing new surprises beneath its layers. There was probably a lot of apprehension about the unknown because of this. When will this happen? remarked Eddie.
Megan’s parents, the Daniels, have claimed she is appreciative of the United States’ support and public displays of solidarity, such as the photos of the Dallas skyline lighting up in Israeli colors.
The family is assisting Friends of the IDF in its mission to raise funds for the IDF’s medical and logistical requirements, such as field hospitals, armored ambulances, medical supplies, plasma, and hygiene kits.
That’s the whole point of Israel being in the region. Eddie recalled a time when Jews “felt they couldn’t be free to be Jewish and needed a state where they could be Jewish.”
“And safe,” Taryn said.
And now we have that, and it calls into question all of that,” Eddie added.
Even though they are scared, the Daniels are very proud of their daughter and the other people she serves with.
If she had to, “I think she would do it again if she had to,” Taryn said of her friend.
“I believe that many of us here today feel helpless. Why are bad things occurring to good people like us? And now we know that we have no control over the situation. “There’s nothing we can do,” Eddie concluded. “But in a bigger, macro sense, she can do something about it and she is.”
