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By Chananel Weiner

Congratulations to everyone at Hasbara Fellowships and Hasbara Fellowships New England, especially Channah Barkhordari, Heddy Ben Atar, and Arielle Adler for their incredible job of hosting the 1st ever Israel Activism on Campus Awards Dinner this past Friday night.

On Friday night, April 8th, over 70 students from Harvard, Tufts, Wellesley, Brandeis, Emerson, Boston U, Boston College, Lesley, Smith, and Northeastern University attended and it was amazing.  Campuses were recognized for their efforts and awards were given for specific events like Best pro-Israel Campaign, Best pro-Israel Campus Media award, and Best "Quick Response" Event.  There were 10 total awards*.

We also had 3 speakers:

Hasbara Fellowships New England regional advisor Rabbi Chananel Weiner spoke about caring for the Jewish people and translating it into action.

Israeli Consul General to New England Shai Bazak spoke about the importance of the work the students are doing and shared the appreciation of the Sate of Israel.  He likened their efforts to their peers in Israel who protect the borders in the military and said that the work our students are doing is just as important.

Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby was the keynote speaker and spoke of fighting big lies with the big truth.  He told an amazing story about when he was an undergrad at GW and there was a pro-Nazi (ym"s) demonstration.  Stating that he wished he had previous Hasbara Fellowships training since he did not know what to do he explained that he ran around them in circles singing Am Yisroel Chai.  He said that he saw 2 starkly different reactions, those who clapped and sang with him who were watching and one of the demonstrators who approached him and said that Jeff would make a good bar of soap.  Relaying this dual message to our students he reiterated his theme that they need to be there advocating for Israel in order to answer the lies and stand up for what's true.

Thank you to everyone involved for a terrific event!

*Here's a roundup of all of the awards winners: Congrats to Tufts, Boston University, Brandeis, Emerson and Smith for winning the awards and to all of the nominees!