On October 7, Roman Gofman was not being spoken about as Israel’s next spy chief. He was a wounded commander on a road in southern Israel, bleeding after fighting Hamas terrorists as Israel was being attacked in one of the darkest days in its history.

Near the Bror Hayil Junction, United Hatzalah volunteer Moshe Weizman was flagged down by a civilian vehicle. Inside was Gofman, then a senior IDF officer and commander of the Tze’elim base, suffering from severe gunshot wounds. Weizman moved him into the ambulance and began an emergency evacuation while trying to keep him conscious. Elishiv Mizrachi, another United Hatzalah volunteer who had already been evacuating wounded people to Barzilai Medical Center in his private car, joined the rescue effort on the road.

Together, under fire and chaos, the two volunteers fought to keep him alive. They did not know they were treating a man who would one day be entrusted with one of the most sensitive jobs in the State of Israel. Their mission was simpler and more urgent: keep him breathing, keep him awake, get him to the hospital.

Less than three years later, that same wounded commander stood at Mossad headquarters as the new Director of the Mossad. And standing beside him were the two volunteers who helped save his life.

The Prime Minister’s Office and Gofman invited Weizman and Mizrachi to the inauguration ceremony in a gesture of gratitude. Gofman embraced them and personally thanked them for saving his life. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also thanked United Hatzalah’s volunteers for their heroism on October 7, saying Israel owes them “a great debt of gratitude.”

The moment was more than ceremonial. It captured something deeply Israeli: civilians racing toward danger, volunteers turning private cars and ambulances into lifelines, and wounded fighters returning to serve the country at the highest levels.

Gofman now takes over the Mossad at a defining moment for Israel’s security, with Iran and its terrorist proxies still at the center of Israel’s strategic fight. But before the secrecy, the operations, and the weight of the office, there was a road in the south, two medics under fire, and a life saved.

Eli Beer, the founder and president of United Hatzalah, summed up the full circle: the volunteers’ mission was to save a life. Today, the life they helped save belongs to a man tasked with protecting Israel and the Jewish people around the world.