Friends of United Hatzalah of Israel hosted their 2nd Annual Gala in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton on Feb. 27th, 2020 with over 1,100 people in attendance and raised $15 million to support the lifesaving work done by the volunteers in Israel.

The event featured performances by Jay Leno and Israeli recording artist Dudu Aharon, as well as a keynote address by Dr. Miriam Adelson. In her speech, Dr. Adelson spoke about the courage of the volunteers and said, “The dedicated men and women of United Hatzalah are fearless and energetic. They bring Israelis closer together, bridging differences of religion and race. They bring meaning to the word “united” in United Hatzalah.” Sheldon Adelson was also in attendance and sat on the stage during his wife’s keynote address and the Leno performance.

The event was co-chaired by Mitch Julis, Joe Kornwasser, Maurice Marciano, David Nagel, Sunny Sassoon, and Ron Simms and the Gala Vice-Chair of the evening was Candice Illoulian Beroukhim. The Host Committee Co-chairs were Nicolai Marciano, Elliot Julis, and Ariel Richter.

“This is a historic night for United Hatzalah. Thanks to the incredible community here in Los Angeles, and to the amazing people that flew in for the event, we were able to raise a record amount of money to support our amazing volunteers who save lives in Israel every night and day,” said Eli Beer, President and Founder of United Hatzalah.

United Hatzalah is the largest independent, non-profit, fully volunteer emergency medical service (EMS) organization in Israel that provides the fastest and free emergency medical first response throughout the country. United Hatzalah’s services are available to all people regardless of race, religion, or national origin. With the help of their unique GPS technology and their iconic ambucycles, they have lowered the average response time in Israel to less than 3 minutes across the country and 90 seconds in many metropolitan areas.