When entrepreneur Jordan Fried received an urgent call from a stranded Israeli friend in San Francisco on October 8th, 2023, he couldn’t have anticipated how it would transform his approach to charitable giving. The friend’s predicament – being unable to return to Israel as major airlines including American, Delta, and United suspended their routes – would catalyze one of the largest private humanitarian responses to the crisis.
“I was raised in a way that you don’t talk about what you’re giving, you do it very privately, and the best form of giving is when your name’s not attached to it,” Fried explains, describing his traditional approach to philanthropy, which he attributes to his Jewish upbringing. However, the scale of the unfolding crisis demanded a more public response.
Within 24 hours of receiving that first call, Fried had chartered an Airbus A330, a massive commercial aircraft with two aisles. He set up an impromptu operations center in a Beverly Hills hotel and began coordinating what would become a series of humanitarian flights. The scope of the need quickly became apparent as Fried encountered increasingly desperate scenarios.
“We had mothers that were trying to go to a funeral of a cousin. We had someone whose child was a hostage that was trying to get back… People who wanted to send breast milk for a baby who lost both of their parents, like a new orphan baby. Just these crazy, crazy, crazy stories,” Fried recounts.
The logistics were daunting. Despite having a wife seven months pregnant at home, Fried immersed himself in every aspect of the operation. “I did every aspect of this flight from the cargo list to getting bills of lading for all the cargo. I stood behind the counter at LAX and hand-wrote tickets for people to get past TSA to get on the plane,” he remembers. Without even packing a suitcase, he boarded the first flight to Israel, ensuring the cargo cleared customs before returning to organize subsequent missions.
Within days, the operation had assembled and transported 17 tons of cargo, including helmets, vests, and essential supplies for communities heavily impacted by the attacks. While the initiative gained national attention, appearing on Fox News, CNN, and Anderson Cooper, Fried emphasizes that publicity wasn’t the goal.
The success of the initial flight led to three more, ultimately helping thousands return to Israel. The effort evolved into an organization called Israel Friends, partnering with Ukraine Friends, a nonprofit that had previously raised $35 million for humanitarian efforts during the Ukraine crisis, including evacuating refugees to Europe and securing temporary housing through Airbnb.
To date, Israel Friends has channeled over $35 million directly to affected communities in Israel. The mission continues as hundreds of thousands remain displaced, particularly in northern Israel, due to ongoing security threats. “The soldiers are sent into Lebanon not planning on being there for this long,” Fried explains. “They’re sleeping, freezing. The Israeli army had actually given a lot of its equipment to Ukraine that they had so little left expected. They didn’t expect a war to break out when it did.”
For Fried, the motivation runs deep. His grandfather survived the Holocaust when his family did not, moved to Israel in 1960, and fought in the War of Independence. This personal connection to Israel had always been present – Fried had previously purchased the domain israel.com for $2.5 million, seeing it as a legacy investment. However, the crisis called for direct action rather than business ventures.
“I knew my sons would ask me one day, ‘Dad, what did you do on October 7th when war broke out?’ And I wanted to be able to say, I did something. I didn’t stand still. I went to go help my people,” he reflects.
This humanitarian response aligns with Fried’s broader philosophy about wealth and purpose. Despite his success as an entrepreneur – including founding multiple companies and making prescient investments in domains like nft.com and puertorico.com – Fried maintains that “making money is not fulfilling. Helping people is where the fulfillment truly comes from.”
Looking ahead, Fried has committed to giving away most of his wealth. “The Giving Pledge is beautiful. Any amount of money I make in this lifetime, I plan on giving most of it away. It’s just if you’re in a position to help, you should help.”
While acknowledging the tragedy of all loss of life in the conflict, Fried’s primary motivation was addressing the immediate humanitarian need he witnessed. “My motive was to just try to stand in solidarity with a group of people who I could feel felt so alone,” he explains. The impact of each successful mission only strengthened his resolve: “With every trip we could make, it just meant such a big impact that became addicting… Why else are we here? I think Tony Robbins does it a lot, but the secret to living is giving really.”
Fried’s transition from private philanthropist to orchestrator of large-scale humanitarian aid demonstrates how crisis can transform not just communities but also the individuals who step up to help them. His experience shows that sometimes the most effective charitable giving requires stepping into the spotlight, even when one’s instinct is to give quietly from the shadows.
