Winner: Yuna Leibzon (Channel 12 News)

Certificate of Merit: Roi Kais (Kan 11), Avital Indig (Makor Rishon)

Musician Efi Netzer Receives Special Citation for Fostering Israel-Diaspora Relations Through the Arts

B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem held its 33rd annual Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportage Award for Journalism ceremony yesterday in Jerusalem, recognizing excellence in reportage on the Jewish diaspora and Israel-diaspora relations in Israeli media.

Yuna Leibzon, a news correspondent for Channel 12 News, received the award in recognition of her series of articles on the Jewish community in the United States and her consistent coverage of U.S. Jewry, anti-Semitism and—since Oct. 7th—the surge in anti-Semitism in the United States.

Certificates of Merits were awarded to Roi Kais of Kan 11 for his series on Jewish communities in Arab countries and Avital Indig of Makor Rishon for her series on New York’s Jewish community.

A special citation for Fostering Israel-Diaspora Relations through the Arts in Memory of Naomi Shemer was presented to musician and composer Efi Netzer. The citation, established in 2014, has been presented previously to the following outstanding Israeli artists and ensembles: Nurit Hirsh, David D’Or, Idan Raichel, David Broza, Yehoram Gaon, Shalva Band, Danny Sanderson, Shuli Natan, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and Ilanit. Netzer, who has composed 800 songs over a career spanning more than 70 years, was feted for the strong relationships he formed with Diaspora communities including an appearance in Teheran in 1967 following the  Six-Day War. Netzer also taught Hebrew songs to Jewish communities in the Soviet Union in the 1970s over The Voice of Israel’s Diaspora service and performed to Jewish audiences in Spain, the U.S., Mexico, Venezuela, Poland and England. “I do not deserve a prize for what I did,” Netzer said during the ceremony. “The prize was the fact that I could travel and meet these dear Jews. Everywhere I went, I felt that they were my brothers. It was a great pleasure to feel that I was an emissary bringing Eretz Israel to them.”

The ceremony concluded with a spirited discussion between Zvika Klein, editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post and Leibzon on press freedom in Israel.

Since its establishment in 1992, the B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism has recognized excellence in reporting on contemporary Diaspora Jewish communities and on the state of Israel-Diaspora relations in Israeli print, broadcast and online media. The award is widely recognized as the most prestigious prize in the Israeli media industry for Diaspora reportage and was established to help strengthen the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora. The award highlights the important contributions the media can make toward strengthening the relationship between Israel and world Jewry by encouraging quality reporting on Diaspora communities and Israel-Diaspora relations.

The distinguished members of the award jury include Dr. Yehudith Auerbach, former head of the Department of Journalism and Communication Studies, Bar Ilan University; Yaron Deckel, a previous Diaspora Reportage Award winner and regional director for the Canadian Jewish Agency for Israel; Professor Uzi Rebhun, Shlomo Argov chair in Israel-Diaspora Relations and head of the Division of Jewish Demography & Statistics, The A. Harman Research Institute of Contemporary Jewry director, Florence Melton Institute, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Professor Gabriela Shalev, former Israel ambassador to the United Nations; Journalist Yair Sheleg; and Asher Weill, publisher and editor of “Ariel,” The Israel Review of Arts and Letters (1981-2003).

The award is presented in memory of the late Wolf Matsdorf, editor of the World Center’s journal “Leadership Briefing” and a journalist in Israel and Australia, and his wife Hilda, a pioneer in social work in both countries, and in memory of Luis and Trudi Schydlowsky.

The full ceremony can be viewed here (in Hebrew).

Watch highlights of the ceremony in English here, and in Hebrew here.