Outstanding students leading the fight for Israel on campus were awarded last night at CAMERA’s (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) Annual Gala.
CAMERA’s Outstanding Campus Activism and Outstanding Student Leadership awards are given in memory of the late David Bar-Illan, a former editor of the Jerusalem Post and long-time friend of CAMERA.
Knights for Israel (KFI) at the University of Central Florida, a group supported by CAMERA, was awarded the David Bar-Illan Award for Outstanding Campus Activism. KFI is known for standing up to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and transforming anti-Israel students into Zionist activists.
“Knights for Israel has demonstrated time and time again their ability to build a continuously growing Israel community on campus, with education and highly attended events as key components,” Hali Haber, CAMERA’s Director of Campus Programming says.
“Over the past seven years, the group has been consistently proactive and responsive to all positive and negative related Israel activity on campus. This is a long time coming for them,” says Aviva Slomich, CAMERA’s International Campus Director.
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Members of UCF’s Knights for Israel posing with their award.
The David Bar-Illan Award for Outstanding Student Leadership was awarded to CAMERA-supported group George Mason University Israel Student Association (GMU ISA).
“Over the last three years, these students have grown into a fiercely Zionist group in an otherwise intolerant sea of Israel haters from Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA),” says Slomich.
GMU ISA members regularly attend SAIA events and in person, address the false statements and accusations made by the hate group.
“The students were awarded the GMU 2017 Collaborative Spirit Award for their work on environmental education with the GMU Secular Student Alliance, and they have partnered with many other groups, including the GMU Feminist Student Organization,” Haber stated.
Last year when their campus hosted the National Students for Justice in Palestine conference, GMU ISA responded by creating a week-long dialogue campaign and hosting a unity Shabbat dinner with hundreds of students from all different backgrounds and religions.
“With nearly 70 CAMERA-supported groups on three continents, it was a tough decision, but recognizing the amazing accomplishments of these two groups is long overdue,” said Slomich.