By Mara Berg, ICB Reporter 
Israel advocates from 15 campuses across New England celebrated their accomplishments at a Leadership Dinner and Awards Ceremony last weekend.
Hosted by Rabbi Chananel Weiner and campus coordinator Channah Barkhordari of Hasbara Fellowships New England, the evening honored student groups for excellence in 10 facets of campus Israel advocacy.
“This was a special semester for our students and for Israel advocacy across the region,” Weiner said. “The dedication these activists have shown is commendable and they are a model for everyone across the country.”
Nominees came from Amherst College, Babson College, Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis University, Brown University, Emerson College, Harvard University, Lesley University, Northeastern University, Tufts University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Smith College, Simmons College, and UMass Amherst.
Professionals from Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Israel Campus Roundtable, the Israeli Consulate of New England and various Hillel staff members from the region voted on which group deserved each award.
“The nominees each shared a commitment to Israel advocacy that came through this past year on a real and practical level,” said Barkhordari. “They take their creative ideas and… immediately begin implementing them. In short, they're proactive.”
Tufts University Friends of Israel (FOI) dominated the competition by winning five of the 10 awards, including Best Israel Speaker, Best Israel Campaign, Best Pro-Israel Campus Media, Best Board Structure, and Most Influential Israel Campus Group of the Year.
Student voters determined the outcome of the last award rather than the professional panel.
“I was shocked,” said FOI president Daniel Bleiberg, a sophomore, as he described how it felt to take so many awards. “It was a really pleasant surprise.”
FOI did not win so many awards simply by doing what it always has done. The group restructured its board last semester, and Bleiberg said the new approach played a significant role in all five wins.
“We broke our board up into committees: cultural, political, outreach and communications,” he explained. “This allowed people to specialize in an area they are actually interested in.”
FOI communications chair and freshman Erica Feldman agreed. “It allowed us to build on our strengths by producing more creative and strategic programming,” she said.
Additionally, Feldman noted that FOI had a strong presence on the winter Hasbara Fellowships training in Israel, which she said helped invigorate the FOI membership. After the trip, the board built coalitions with prominent student leaders and organizations outside of the Israel advocacy realm, widening the network and expanding their presence on campus.
“For example, we hosted a student leadership dinner,” she said. “Dozens of student leaders converged to the Alumnae Lounge to hear Jeff Robbins, former US delegate to the UN Human Rights Council, speak. Another example is when the Queer Straight Alliance co-sponsored our screening of the Israeli film, The Bubble.”
FOI received the award for Best Israel Campaign for their week-long Valentine’s Day-themed Save a Child’s Heart Campaign in mid February, which raised money for the Israel-based humanitarian effort that treats children from developing countries for heart disease. Events included a candy delivery service, cookie decorating, and a Valentine’s Day party thrown in conjunction with a non-historically Jewish fraternity, Zeta Psi.
Effective use of media outlets also contributed to the wins. Feldman said the group created a website, sent bi-monthly newsletters to its 200 members and reached out to the editors of
The Tufts Daily.
“We have become very strategic in our advertising of events and our board has published a number of powerful op-eds this year,” she added.
While Tufts snagged half of the awards, other campuses also were recognized for their work. Emerson and Smith College tied for Best New Israel Board while Brandeis won Best Internal Communication and Best Pro-Israel Screening.
“I was delighted when Brandeis won,” said Heddy Ben-Atar, who recently graduated from Brandeis and now works for Hasbara Fellowships as campus coordinator.
The university won Best Internal Communication for their educational program, Israel by the Book. According to Barkhordari, Brandeis displayed “meaningful emphasis in educating board members and extended members of the pro-Israel community on campus” by implementing programming that taught practical advocacy skills.
Boston University’s BU Students for Israel (BUSI) took home awards for Best Israel Peace Week and Best Quick Response for their peaceful protest of SJP’s makeshift “Apartheid Wall” last month. Approximately 250 Israel supporters showed up to wave flags, sing Hebrew songs and listen to educational speeches made by BUSI board members.
“I am so proud of the BUSI board for the incredible job we have done this year, and I felt honored to be a part of the group who put it all together,” said BUSI president and junior Rachelle Rubin.
“The BUSI board focused on Israel’s quest for peace, effectively utilized coalitions, and was featured repeatedly in BU’s newspaper,
The Daily Free Press. We won this award because throughout Israel Peace Week, we balanced both education and positive imaging,” said Rubin.
The awards dinner featured two prominent keynote speakers who praised the students’ work: Israeli consul-general to New England Shai Bazak and Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby.
“The frontline in the war on peace in the Middle East is not only in the battlefield, but in the press and on campus – in academia,” Bazak told the crowd. He praised all of the groups present for fighting anti-Israel sentiments, emphasizing peace and educating students.
Jacoby cited poll data that shows nearly two-thirds of Americans support Israel, but said, “While anti-Israel protestors are a minority, they are becoming more vocal and credible than ever before.”
He noted that while the majority may side with Israel, many are open to listening to both sides of the story and are thus susceptible to believing anti-Israel sentiments.
“Your challenge on campuses isn’t to win over extremists, but to win over the middle,” he told the activists.
“This is kind of a proud father moment for me,” said CJP’s Israel activism campus associate Nathan Ciccolo as he reflected on the excitement of the evening. CJP, in addition to The Israel on Campus Coalition, Hasbara Fellowships, Hagshama, StandWithUs and other organizations funded and help implement many of the winning initiatives.
Have a comment? Want to share? Send it to comments@israelcampusbeat.org and you may be featured in our weekly Comments Roundup!