CAMERA to debut Bar-Illan student award

For his accomplishments, Micah Toll will be recognized with the David Bar-Illan Award for Outstanding Student Leadership.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
CAMERA logo 390 (photo credit: CAMERA.ORG)
CAMERA logo 390
(photo credit: CAMERA.ORG)
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America’s (CAMERA) Annual Dinner on April 22 at New York City’s Chelsea Piers will include the first-ever presentation of two awards in memory of the late David Bar-Illan, recognizing outstanding student leadership and activism on behalf of Israel on campuses.
The former editor of The Jerusalem Post, who was also a renowned concert pianist and an adviser to Binyamin Netanyahu during his first term as prime minister (1996 – 1999), was the author of the Post’s popular weekly column, “Eye on the Media.”
“David tackled misinformation and bias with great wit and intelligence. He was a role model of powerful defense of Israel,” said CAMERA executive director Andrea Levin.
“David supported and encouraged CAMERA in its work, so we are extremely proud to honor outstanding campus activists with these awards in his memory,” she added.
“The first recipients, to be spotlighted at the annual dinner, will be Micah Toll of the University of Pittsburgh and Dragons for Israel (DFI) at Drexel University, led by Shoshana Weiss,” said Aviva Slomich, the head of CAMERA’s campus programming.
“Micah Toll was a CAMERA Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh,” Slomich noted. “In addition to organizing guest lectures and being a frequent letter-writer to The Pitt News, the university student newspaper, Micah developed an effective student-to-student grassroots public relations campaign.”
He also “used parody as an effective tool for debunking anti-Israel propaganda on campus, and expanded that effort to Hampshire College,” Slomich said.
For his accomplishments, Toll will be recognized with the David Bar-Illan Award for Outstanding Student Leadership.
Shoshana Weiss, a CAMERA Fellow at Drexel, took advantage of support from the CAMERA Campus Activist Project (CCAP) to launch the University’s DFI organization, Slomich said.
“DFI organized programs with a range of student groups. For example, it cosponsored an event featuring Ethiopian Israeli refugees with the Black Student Association, and worked with student environmental organizations to showcase Israel’s sophisticated energy-efficiency products and programs.”
One result of Weiss and DFI’s efforts has been that approximately 20 Drexel students have studied, interned or visited in Israel. For her achievements, Weiss will receive the David Bar-Illan Award for Outstanding Campus Activism.
CAMERA’s annual dinner will be keynoted by former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and Representative Eliot Engel will deliver greetings to the attendees. CAMERA will also recognize Amy Lipton as the Letter-Writer of the Year. The dinner honoree will be Andrea Levin, who will receive the organization’s Emet Award.