Gilad Erdan, global president of Magen David Adom, has focused largely on strengthening Israel’s home front in the past year. But when conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated last week, the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations saw it as part of a global threat.
“Even if Charlie wasn’t killed because he was our friend or ally, to me, it’s the same threat,” Erdan told JNS. “It’s the threat posed by those who want to silence anyone who thinks differently, who prays differently, who holds a different ideology.”
Erdan spoke with JNS at the American Friends of Magen David Adom’s annual gala at Cipriani Wall Street in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday night. The event, which drew about 600 people, honored Meghan McCain, a political commentator who is the daughter of the late senator John McCain.
Nearly a dozen Magen David Adom medics and officials, whom Erdan called “warriors in white,” attended and received rounds of applause throughout the evening. Ari Ackerman, a philanthropist and activist, emceed the gala.
Erdan told JNS that it is “deeply concerning to witness the rise of antisemitism all around the world, especially here in the United States.”
“It’s not just about antisemitism. Social media has radicalized people and made societies more polarized. It’s the algorithms, the echo chambers. Whatever the cause, the result is a dangerous breakdown,” he said. “At the end of the day, we have to protect ourselves. We have to defend Jews and Israelis.”
McCain, who received the organization’s champion of Israel award at the event, said she began supporting Israel publicly when she realized that few have even a “cursory understanding” of the Jewish state.
“To be recognized for something that I’m just doing naturally feels wonderful,” she told JNS. “But it also feels confusing, because I just feel like it’s something everyone should be doing.”
McCain, whose political views have moved to the right in recent years, told JNS that many responses on social media to Kirk’s assassination were “illuminating.”
“The people going after Charlie have a lot of different motives, and I think they’re all very sick,” she told JNS. “If someone I disagreed with politically were assassinated like this, the only thing I’d say is that, ‘I’m praying for their family and grieving for the country.’ Any decent human being should say that.”
Kirk’s vocal support for Israel contributed to the hatred he faced, but wasn’t the only factor, according to McCain.
“It’s also his faith, his politics, how effective he was, how beloved he was and his activism against antisemitism,” she told JNS. “He fought that fight hard. There are tweets from just two or three weeks ago where he was speaking out.”
“What I’ve taken from his assassination is how crucial it is for conservatives to keep fighting antisemitism and to stay staunchly pro-Israel,” she said. “There are some awful voices on the alt-right saying abhorrent things, but the data comforts me. More than 70% of Republicans, 72% to 76% depending on the poll, wholeheartedly support Israel.”
“That super-majority matters far more than anything trolls on the internet or YouTube say,” she said.
‘Our friends around the world’
The medic Ori Lazarovich told JNS during the event’s cocktail hour that Magen David Adom’s role during “Operation Rising Lion,” during which Israel struck Iranian nuclear sites, “hit home more than usual.”
“I live in Holon, very close to where most of the missile barrages landed,” he said. “I was able to respond in my personal vehicle to many of the incidents. My work with the international unit really strengthened our response and helped us coordinate with counterparts around the world.”
To Lazarovich, everything that Magen David Adom does as Israel’s national emergency medical service is “thanks to our friends around the world.”
“Our biggest supporters are the American Friends of Magen David Adom,” he told JNS. “Them and their donors. We wouldn’t have ambulances, stations, medicycles, equipment or a blood center.”
“It’s hand-in-hand,” he said. “We can’t be us without them.”
The event theme—a night in Tuscany—featured Italian-inspired décor and a Mediterranean-style menu. Donor cards gave guests the chance to support Magen David Adom at various levels, including sponsoring a basic life-support ambulance, protective gear for emergency medical technicians and paramedics, trailers for stations in at-risk communities and a satellite communications site.
Ofir Akunis, the Israeli consul general in New York, visited with some attendees during the cocktail reception.
“When an MDA first responder arrives at the scene of an emergency, wearing the red Star of David on their uniform, they don’t just represent themselves,” he told a small group of social media influencers, Magen David Adom officials and donors.
“They represent all of us,” he said. “Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze, Haredim and secular citizens—all riding in the same ambulance to save lives.”
The Israeli diplomat told the small group that at that moment, brave Israeli soldiers were fighting in Gaza “not just to protect the State of Israel but to defend the entire Jewish nation.”
“When Israel is strong, you are strong,” he said. “Jewish communities around the world are strong.”
Several attendees told JNS how necessary Magen David Adom’s work is to reinforce the Israeli home front.
“It’s really important that, as a community, we show up, help out as much as we can and express our support,” Ilana Bloom, of New Jersey, told JNS. “While we’re here in New York, our hearts are with our family in Israel. Events like this are incredibly important—not just for the donations but to be here physically.”
“Our presence itself is a form of support,” Bloom said.
Daniel Fleisher, an associate director at KPMG, which was honored at the event, told JNS that he was “proud” to attend the gala for the first time.
“It’s a great organization—definitely worth supporting,” he said. “I’m proud to be part of a firm that sees the value in that and chose to support Magen David Adom.”
The night featured renditions of the American and Israeli national anthems, as well as a musical performance by 2025 Eurovision contestant Yuval Raphael, who is Israeli.
Erdan told those assembled that Charlie Kirk was “a true friend of Israel and the Jewish people.”
“Charlie was murdered simply for what he believed,” he said. “The same blind hatred that took his life also targets Jewish students on our campuses—students singled out, harassed, even attacked simply for being who they are.”
“Friends, we must stand together against this evil,” Erdan said. “On the battlefield in Gaza—and even here, in America.”
