On June 4th, 2023, Hali Spiegel, North American campus director for CAMERA, had the wonderful privilege to publicly recognize the achievements of a few, incredibly brave individuals at CAMERA’s annual gala in New York City.
CAMERA’s student award, which carries the name of famed Jerusalem Post editor and pianist Bar-Illan recognizes college students who prove themselves to be outstanding campus leaders and advocates for the State of Israel.
Hali also had the pleasure to announce CAMERA’s 2023 Portrait of Courage honorees, a distinction given to CAMERA’s most successful program alumni and community members.
Please note: awardees and honorees are not presented in any particular order of distinction. We are honoring them all equally.
Bar-Illan Awardees
Jonah Fried, 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 CAMERA Fellow at McGill University
Jonah Fried led the charge against an especially contentious anti-Israel referendum on his campus. He is currently interning with B’nai Brith Canada, the country’s leading Jewish human rights agency. Read Jonah’s contributions to the Jerusalem Post, TheJ.ca, Canadian Jewish News, Algemeiner and The Suburban by following this link.
Josh Abrams, on behalf of Huskies for Israel | CAMERA on Campus Coalition group at Northeastern University
Coming from a strong Zionist background, Josh sprang into action as an on-campus advocate for Israel after experiencing intense antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment on his campus. Josh, along with Huskies for Israel are a powerful force on campus.
Portraits of Courage
Rachel Wolf
Rachel was the 2014 – 2015 CAMERA fellow at American University in Washington DC and interned for CAMERA during college. After graduating, she enlisted in the IDF where she served as a spokesperson and then joined the Jerusalem Post. Now she is a producer for the Sean Hannity show.
Justin Hayet
Another winner of our Portraits in Courage award is Justin Hayet, a 2015 graduate of Binghamton University, and a previous winner of CAMERA’s 2015 Campus Activism award.
Justin now lives in Tel Aviv and is the COO of the B’nai Zion Foundation, a major North American Jewish organization dedicated to promoting Israel’s positive side through digital media. He was recently named on the Forbes “30 under 30” list, which includes those individuals who have made significant contributions to society in a variety of fields.
Hannah Grossman
Hannah was a 2017 – 2018 CAMERA Fellow at Brooklyn College, one of the most antisemitic campuses in the US. Following graduation, Hannah worked as a freelance journalist, writing about Israel and antisemitism, and is now a news writer and reporter for Fox News.
Josh Lee
Josh Lee was a 2018-19 CAMERA fellow at the University of Nottingham. Now he is a corporate intelligence analyst at Reuters and serves on the Board of Deputies of British Jews, representing his synagogue and the Union of Jewish Students.
Tamara Berens
Tamara Berens is a Charles Krauthammer Fellow at the Tikvah Fund, writing for major publications including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and Mosaic. She is now the Tikvah Director of Young Professional Programs.
Daniel Kosky
Daniel Kosky served as the 2017-2018 CAMERA fellow at the University of Nottingham. Daniel is currently a lobbyist for London Councils, making sure the voices of London municipalities are heard in Parliament.