Sgt. Victoria Shlomo, a 27-year-old veteran of the Israel Defense Forces, just completed her bachelor’s degree in international relations at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem thanks to Friends of the IDF, which paid for her studies through a program for former combat soldiers who can’t afford higher education.

Victoria Shlomo

“I was able to do it because of the funding I received,” Shlomo, who served in combat field intelligence from 2005 to 2007, told J. in a phone interview.

She will be speaking in San Francisco on Oct. 20 when the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of Friends of the IDF hosts its annual gala.

Founded in 1981 by a group of Holocaust survivors, FIDF is a nonprofit that supports educational, social, cultural and recreational programs and facilities for soldiers and veterans of the IDF.

The FIDF gala will feature radio host John Rothmann as emcee and Israeli pop star Eddie Grimberg and the Sunlight Orchestra. Another speaker will be Oran Almog, who survived a terrorist attack at a Haifa restaurant in 2004 that left him blind and killed several members of his family. Despite his injuries, which would have excused him from IDF service, Almog volunteered in 2011.

The Oct. 20 gala is from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at San Francisco’s InterContinental Hotel, 888 Howard St. Funds raised will support FIDF programs in Israel. Tickets are available at www.fidf.org. For more information, call (415) 547-8360. — j. staff