TORONTO — The Meir Medical Centre in Kfar Saba, Israel, has been around for 57 years. With around 800 beds and leading departments in cardiology and orthopedics, it serves a population of close to one million. It boasts top-flight research, is a teaching hospital and features exchange programs with hospitals around the world, including three in Toronto.

But recently, it broke new ground in a rather unexpected sphere. For the first time in its history, it received a substantial donation from a consortium of Arab-Israeli citizens. Twenty Arab donors got together to give the Meir Medical Center a gift of 300,000 shekels ($89,000).

“It was the first time Arab Israelis donated to any Israeli hospital,” according to Arie Fishbein, CEO of Friends of the Meir Medical Center.

Fishbein, who has been charged with handling external relations for the hospital, was in Toronto last week to meet with Canadian Friends of the Meir Medical Center.

The hospital is known not only for its diverse population that it serves, but for its equally diverse staff. “We have an Arab doctor who organized 20 Arabs together to donate to Meir,” he said.

The Meir Medical Center is the fourth-largest hospital in Israel, and from its location north of Tel Aviv, “it takes care of one million people in the region,” Fishbein said. There are many Arab villages and communities in the area it serves.

It was that kind of inclusive and integrated medical facility that led one Canadian to donate more than $1 million to the hospital last year, said Arie Raif, vice-chair and CEO of the Canadian Friends of Meir Medical Center.

Altogether, in the four years he’s headed the hospital’s local support group, Canadians have contributed more than $2.5 million to it. The bulk of the funds have gone to the children’s facility and the cardiology unit, where Canadian funds were used to acquire new equipment.

One of Raif’s primary tasks is to raise Meir’s profile in Canada, particularly among younger people. The Canadian support group now has “a few thousand” supporters. The main event on the organization’s calendar is its annual gala in which the hospital’s Medal of Merit is awarded to worthy recipients.

This year’s event will take place April 6 and will see the Medal of Merit awarded to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Dr. Allan Abramovitch, a urologist at Scarborough Hospital and Jacqueline Abramovitch, a community activist, as well as Karen Mock, a human rights activist, and David Mock, a professor and former dean of the faculty of dentistry at the University of Toronto.

Raif is eager to foster professional relationships between Canadian and Israeli medical practitioners. An exchange program is already in place with Mount Sinai Hospital, with doctors of each centre working in the other’s intensive care units, while the Hospital for Sick Children and Meir are conducting joint research, as are Sunnybrook Health Science Centre and the Meir hospital.

During his visit to Toronto, Fishbein was introduced to members of the Canadian Friends’ board. It was his first trip abroad on behalf of the hospital, indicating the high regard the centre has for its Canadian supporters, he said.

Fishbein has been on the job only a few weeks. He was recruited to the position from Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), where he worked as a project manager. Before that, he had served for 28 years in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), mostly in air defence. When he left the IDF, he was a brigadier general in charge of the Air Force’s anti-aircraft disposition and ground defence. He had 15,000 soldiers under his command. Earlier, he headed the IDF’s delegation to the United States when it acquired the Patriot missile defence system.

It turns out, he’s not the first ex-soldier to parlay his military knowledge into a job at Meir. One of the hospital’s professors of medicine is a former F-16 fighter pilot. The doctor/warrior developed a simulator – similar to one used to train pilots – to teach other doctors how to diagnose patients so they “do not crash,” Fishbein said.

From his vantage point at the intersection of the health and military professions and his intimate knowledge of the country’s defence profile, Fishbein is confident the country can meet any challenges hurled at it – at least in terms of missiles and rockets.

Israel will soon be protected by a triple ring consisting of the Iron Dome, David’s Sling and the Arrow. In a few years, perhaps as soon as five, the country will add a laser weapon system to shoot down incoming rockets.

“From day to day, we’re becoming safer and safer,” he added.