Magen David Group Scraps Gala At Trump’s Mar-A-Lago

Mar-a-Lago dining room Image by Courtesy of Mar-a-Lago

By Dave Goldiner August 18, 2017

A group that supports Israeli emergency medical service Magen David Adom has reportedly cancelled a million-dollar fundraising gala that was planned at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The American Friends of Magen David Adom announced Thursday night it had decided not to hold its 2018 fundraiser at the Trump property amid continuing anger over Trump’s remarks about the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.

The Cleveland Clinic and American Cancer Society have also scrapped events at the glitzy Florida resort.

Friends of MDA has been holding its annual gala at Mar-a-Lago since 2012, and the most recent event raised $1.2 million in February, according to the Palm Beach Post.

A spokesman for the group refused to say if the decision was related to Trump but said it came after “considerable deliberation.”

Dave Goldiner is the Forward’s director of digital media. Dave is a veteran journalist who has spent two decades working at newspapers in the United States and Africa. A native New Yorker, Goldiner wrote for the New York Daily News, where he covered some of the biggest stories of our time, including the attacks of September 11, along with thousands of stories of hope and heartbreak. He also studied and worked in Southern Africa and has written for publications in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He holds masters degrees in journalism and public administration from Columbia University. Dave can be reached at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter @davegoldiner

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO