Announcing the 2018 David Bar-Illan Award Recipients
Members of KFI with Joe Lieberman at AIPAC Policy Conference 2017.
At this year’s CAMERA Gala, the 2018 Bar-Illan Award for Outstanding Campus Activism will be awarded to Knights for Israel (KFI) from the University of Central Florida. Among other impressive accolades, the group has stood up to SJP on campus and converted anti-Israel activists into Zionists.
A phenomenal CAMERA-supported group for many years, KFI holds consistently successful events, with 40-60 students attending on average. The group is also steadfast in its commitment to remaining independent. KFI has shaped excellent leaders, two of whom have even gone on to become CAMERA on Campus staff! KFI has a core group of dedicated students and over the years has continued to grow. KFI is consistently responsive and proactive on campus.
For the past four years, KFI has produced impressive CAMERA Fellows. “I know they deserve this award,” says Senior Campus Coordinator Tatiana Becker. “It’s a long time coming.”
The David Bar-Illan Award for Outstanding Student Leadership will be awarded to CAMERA-supported group George Mason University Israel Student Association (GMU ISA). “Over the last three years, I’ve watched these students grow into a fiercely Zionist group in an otherwise intolerant sea of anti-Israel haters with Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA),” says Becker.
GMU ISA members regularly attends SAIA events and are cool, calm, and respectful in how they address the false statements and accusations made by the group. Last year, they responded to National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) by gathering all their resources and being even more impassioned than in previous years. The students have shown incredible dedication to Israel, to their campus, and to CAMERA’s mission. “The GMU students hold a very special place in my heart.”
GMU ISA also pioneered and created CAMERA’s “Pop the Misconceptions” Campaign which has since been used on several campuses. They have held many educational events, notably last year’s Brave Miss World which they co-hosted with the GMU Feminist Student Organization.
They were awarded the 2017 Collaborative Spirit Award for their work on environmental education with the GMU Secular Student Alliance. Last year when their campus hosted the NSJP conference, they responded by creating a week-long dialogue campaign and hosting a unity Shabbat dinner with hundreds of students from all different backgrounds and religions.
VIDEO: British Students Stand Up to Hate at UCL
University College London made headlines in 2016 when riot police had to stop members of UCL Palestine Society from attacking Jewish students who were attending a CAMERA speaking event with Israeli human rights activist Hen Mazzig. Undeterred, Mazzig returned to speak at UCL on January 25th with our assistance.
This time, as Jewish students waved Israeli flags and sang Jewish songs, members of the UCL Palestine Society resumed their hatred, shouting falsehoods and slanders against Hen Mazzig and the Jewish state outside the event.
International Campus Director Speaks at Israeli Knesset
On February 12th, International Campus Director Aviva Slomich (second from right) attended a conference at Israel’s parliament called “Fighting the ‘Palestinian apartheid’ lie” about delegitimization efforts against Israel on campus and beyond. Slomich commented on the dangers of legitimizing JStreet within the Israel activist community, referring to them as a “gateway” organization to more fringe, extremist organizations, such as Jewish Voice for Peace.
