Professor Irwin Cotler, former Canadian Minister of Justice, Delivers Keynote Address at Ceremony

Tamar Ish-Shalom and Israel Rozner receive broadcast media award for Channel 10 series on U.S. Jewish community; Eliahu Birnbaum receives print media award for Makor Rishon series on remote Jewish communities

Certificate of Merit to Shmuel Rozner, Chief U.S. Correspondent for "Ha'aretz;" Certificate of Excellence to Or Kashti, Ha'aretz education correspondent; Lifetime Achievement Award to Ma'ariv founder and Editor-in-Chief Shalom Rosenfeld

With Knesset members, senior jurists, and leading media figures in attendance, professor Irwin Cotler, formerly minister of justice and attorney general of Canada, prominent international human rights lawyer and member of the Canadian Parliament, delivered the keynote address at the 2008 World Center Award for Journalism for excellence in Diaspora reportage. The award is given in memory of Wolf and Hilda Matsdorf. In his wide-ranging presentation entitled "Bringing Ahmadinejad to Justice: A Nuremberg Indictment," Cotler addressed the legal remedies available to the international community to counter the Iranian president's repeated incitement to genocide against the citizens of the State of Israel.

At the event, prizes were presented to Tamar Ish-Shalom and Israel Rozner (Channel 10) in the broadcast media category and to Eliahu Birnbaum (Makor Rishon) in the print media category. Also, a Certificate of Merit was conferred on Shmuel Rosner, chief U.S. correspondent for Ha'aretz; a Certificate of Excellence was presented to Ha'aretz education correspondent Or Kashti, and a Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to former Ma'ariv founder and Editor-in-Chief Shalom Rosenfeld (posthumously).

In his opening presentation, B'nai B'rith World Center Chairman Dr. Haim V. Katz said that the World Center views the award as one of the institution's most important projects for strengthening Israel-Diaspora relations and expressed gratification with the fact that the number and quality of entries has increased in recent years. He also presented findings from the World Center's third annual survey of Israeli Attitudes toward Diaspora Jewry.

Since its establishment in 1992, the B'nai B'rith World Center Award for Journalism has recognized excellence in reportage on contemporary Diaspora Jewish communities and on the state of Israel-Diaspora relations today in the Israeli print and electronic media. The B'nai B'rith World Center Award is widely acknowledged in the media as the most prestigious prize in Israel recognizing excellence in Diaspora reportage. The distinguished award jury includes: professor Chana Adoni, leader, Communication Department, Jezreel Valley College; professor Yehudith Auerbach, leader of the Communication and Journalism Studies Division, Bar Ilan University; Shlomo Nakdimon, journalist and columnist; Dan Pattir, political analyst and media advisor to prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Menachem Begin; Asher Weill, publisher and editor of "Ariel" The Israel Review of Arts and Letters (1981-2003) and professor Gabriel Weimann, Department of Communication, University of Haifa. Former Tel Aviv University President professor Itamar Rabinovich serves as president of the award enterprise.

Cotler opened his guest lecture by noting that: "2008 marks the 60^th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and Universal Declaration of Human Rights – both of which have been tragically violated time and again. Sixty years after their adoption, we have to ask ourselves what have we learned and what must we do. The enduring lesson of the Holocaust and of the genocides in former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Darfur is that they occurred not simply because of the machinery of death but because of the state-sanctioned incitement to genocide. It all begins with the teaching of contempt and demonization of the other."

Tamar Ish-Shalom (anchor) and Israel Rozner (editor and director) were named winners in the broadcast media category for their seven-part series "American Romance" broadcast on Channel 10 News in September and October 2007. The project addressed different aspects in the lives of Jewish Americans, focusing on the stories, lives, and choices of ordinary members of the community rather than on the leadership of what is still arguably the largest Jewish community in the world. The award jury noted in its unanimous decision that it was very impressed with the quality of the production, with the obvious care paid to filming and editing, and with the scope of the topics covered. While the project does not pretend to cover the entire scope of the phenomenon of American Jewry, it does treat a number of fascinating angles from which to observe current problematic aspects of that contemporary community. These include the coalescing of parts of the community around "Tikun Olam" projects, the dilemmas of expatriate Israelis, the difficulties faced by Jewish singles, the phenomenon of gay synagogues, the challenges faced by the Jewish lobby, and the disengagement of young Jews from the State of Israel. In accepting the award, Ish-Shalom said that producing the series helped her to put aside the concern for the Jewish future – which seems to be a preoccupation of Israelis – and to focus on the trials, tribulations, and needs of today's Jews who she met across the United States.

Tamar Ish-Shalom served as the parliamentary correspondent for Army Radio, presenter and editor of Army Radio's main news roundup "24 Hours That Were," and as editor and presenter on Channel 10 News. Since November 2007 she has been the Europe correspondent for Channel 2 News. Israel Rozner has served since 2003 as a senior journalist, editor, and director for Channel 10 news, before which he worked as an independent director and screen writer of documentaries.

Eliahu Birnbaum won the award in the print media category for a series of articles on small, remote Jewish communities that appeared in his bi-weekly column, "World Jewry," that has appeared for two years in the "Shabbat" literary supplement of the Hebrew-language weekly "Makor Rishon." The section opens a window for Israeli readers onto less-known Jewish communities around the world. Birnbaum's 13 submitted articles surveyed China's Kaifeng Jews, the "B'nai Moshe" of Peru, descendents of the hidden Jews (Morannos) in Palma de Majorca, the Jewish community of Panama, and the history of the Jews of Recife, Brazil, among others. The jury was impressed with the huge scope of the subjects and noted the successful integration of contemporary and historic materials together with personal stories of members of the community, along with the occasional use of travelogue genre. The jury also noted that Birnbaum visited all of the communities he wrote about. Birnbaum was born in Uruguay and made aliya in 1972. He studied at Har Zion Yeshiva and received his rabbinical ordination in 1982. He holds a master's degree in Jewish thought from Hebrew University and is writing his dissertation in Jewish philosophy at Bar-Ilan University, where he teaches on the staff of the Rappoport Center. He was chief rabbi of Uruguay 1992-1997 and since 1988 has served a director of the Straus-Amiel Institution, an arm of Ohr Torah Stone that trains rabbis and spiritual leaders for work in Diaspora communities. Birnbaum also serves as rabbi of Shavei Yisrael, an association that deals with the descendents of the Jewish nation around the world. In accepting the award, Birnbaum said that from his experience visiting far-flung Jewish communities around the world he realizes that the phenomena of the endurance of the Jewish people is worthy of its own "Survivor" television series.

In addition to the first prizes, Shmuel Rosner, chief U.S. correspondent for Ha'aretz, received a Certificate of Merit for a series of articles on "The State of Judaism," treating trends and dilemmas in American Jewry such as assimilation, intermarriage, religious fashions, and demographic changes; Ha'aretz education correspondent Or Kashti received a Certificate of Excellence for three articles that surveyed surprising approaches toward Jewish education in the United States, France and the FSU; and a Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred on Shalom Rosenfeld, founder and past editor-in-chief of Ma'ariv (1974-1980), founding director of the journalism studies program at Tel Aviv University and Sokolow Prize (1974) and Israel Prize (1986) laureate for journalism. Rosenfeld has been respected by generations of journalists as a model of journalistic ethics who took a deep interest in Diaspora Jewry, expressed in his founding of the Institute for Research of the Jewish Press at Tel Aviv University. Rosenfeld passed away on April 14, 2008, just four weeks after the jury's decision to present him with the award. The award certificate was received by his wife Elana.

The award is made possible through donations from professor Daniel Schydlowsky, a member of the B'nai B'rith World Center International Board of Governors (Lima, Peru and Washington, D.C.) and the Matsdorf family.