World Affairs Columnist Frida Ghitis to Speak in Sarasota, Florida

Online, December 13, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Frida Ghitis, world affairs consultant and columnist with Miami Herald, World Politics Review and others, will speak on "Israel's Looming Global Changes, Risk and Opportunity" at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, January 10, at Michael's on East, 1212 South East Avenue in Sarasota.

"A Discussion with Frida Ghitis" is presented by the Sarasota-Manatee Friends of American Friends of Magen David Adom, Israel's national emergency disaster, ambulance and blood bank service.

Ghitis is a world affairs columnist whose articles appear in dozens of publications across the globe. In addition to the Miami Herald, where she writes a column distributed to hundreds of newspapers throughout the world, her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Jerusalem Post, CNN.com and many others.

Ghitis started her career at CNN, where she was a producer and correspondent covering some of the most important events of our time. She has worked in more than 60 countries and travels frequently to peaceful and not so peaceful places. In recent years she has reported from Kosovo, Macedonia, Sri Lanka and Israel, among others. She has worked in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and Israel. She has interviewed Marxist guerrillas in the Amazon jungle, has sat down with Fidel Castro, and met with newly released POWs in the Iraqi desert. She covered wars in Bosnia, Somalia, Iraq and Kuwait.

Tickets start at $75. Patron tickets are $125. All proceeds benefit American Friends of Magen David Adom. For sponsor information, please contact Committee Chair Gila Goldner Meriwether at (941) 320-9297 or gilam@comcast.net.

American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA) supports the lifesaving efforts of Magen David Adom (MDA) - which provides Israel's pre-hospital emergency medical care, including disaster, ambulance and blood services Israel - as the tax-exempt fundraising organization representing MDA in the United States. Although it receives no government-budgeted funding, the MDA team of trained volunteer and professional medical responders is mandated by the Knesset to provide the entire nation's pre-hospital emergency medical care, including disaster, ambulance and blood services. The MDA National Blood Services Center provides 100% of the blood needs of the Israel Defense Forces and 95% of the blood needs of Israel's hospitals.

AFMDA supporters built the MDA National Blood Services Center, continue to build or renovate many of MDA's emergency medical stations throughout Israel, and supply MDA with a wide range of emergency medical supplies, equipment and ambulances. Most of the 800 MDA ambulances and Mobile Intensive Care Units that are on call 24/7, logging nearly ten million miles and caring for nearly 570,000 patients annually, were donated by AFMDA. For more information call (800_ 626-0046 or visit www.afmda.org