A surf therapy organization in Israel says it has received an increase in demand since the October 7 attacks in 2023, when Palestinian militants invaded southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, most of whom were civilians. According to an article in CBN News, the program, called HaGal Sheli — “My Wave” in Hebrew — has been taking Nova festival survivors (a major focus of the attacks), hostages released from Gaza, and veterans out into the water to learn to surf.
The organization’s CEO, Yaron Waksman, says surfing helped him as a teenager, and he saw the benefits that it could have for others needing a new outlet.
“The sea is the ultimate metaphor for life,” Waksman told CBN News. “It could be big and scary. It can be flat, (and) sunny, like today. (There are) so many things that you have control of, and so many things that (you do) not.”
Waksman says the organization started working with at-risk youth and people with disabilities. Then they expanded to work with Israel’s Ministry of Defense Rehabilitation Department to provide therapy to veterans suffering from PTSD.
The organization now has 12 centers and 500 staff. They say that 76 percent of the patients in the trauma therapy program “reported a decrease in nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and flashbacks.”
They’ve already treated 5,000 people in 2026, and 20,000 total since the program began in 2012.
Waksman notes that the organization works with people of all backgrounds.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re white, black, Muslim, Christian, or whatever,” he said. “We’re going to take you in, we’re going to love you, and we’re going to teach you how to deal with life on a day-to-day basis, and not only how to surf.”
Before the October 7 attack and subsequent invasion of Gaza, a surf program was also running to benefit Palestinians. However, the founder of the Gaza Surf Club, Matt Olsen, reports that most of Gaza’s surfboards have been destroyed, several surf community members were killed, and only a few surfers have entered the ocean in recent years.
