A total of 50 pro-Israel public diplomacy professionals, activists and social-media influencers were presented with the inaugural “Voices of Iron” award in a ceremony held at the Knesset auditorium on Tuesday. The award honors their advocacy for Israel in the past 15 months, during the Swords of Iron war.
The initiative was the brainchild of Likud Knesset member Dan Illouz, who hosted the event attended by several hundred people. Illouz told JNS that the purpose of the prize was to thank those who have gone above and beyond in defending the Jewish state.
During his remarks to the awardees and guests, Illouz said: “Look around you, you see dozens of people who have given of themselves day and night since Oct. 7 in order to defend Israel. Many of them have risked their careers, have been attacked on social media, some even physically threatened and many are doing this completely voluntarily. …But you refused to let the truth be buried.”
Knesset speaker Amir Ohana spoke at the event on behalf of the Israeli parliament, saying that “this high-profile gathering represents the online dream team. And for those peddling lies and hate, the ultimate nightmare.”
He thanked the honorees, calling them “modern-day media Maccabees” and noting that they constitute “a cyber Iron Dome intercepting misinformation and blowing lies out of the sky. … Just as the warriors of the IDF put aside their differences to defend their brethren, so have you. … May your voices and your impact only grow.”
Award recipient Lizzy Savetsky, a New York-based influencer, told JNS: “To be called a ‘Voice of Iron’ and to be a voice for the Jewish nation has never felt like a choice to me. It’s always felt like a sacred obligation and responsibility. I just think about my ancestors who would have given anything to step foot on the ground here in our indigenous homeland.”
Savetsky shared her impression that “a lot of Jews have had an awakening” over the past year. “My goal is to help those Jews find their voice and feel empowered to use it.”
Josh Reinstein, president of the Israel Allies Foundation, a nonprofit encouraging faith-based support for Israel, told JNS: “I’m very honored [to receive the award], but I believe the real award goes to the hundreds of millions of Bible-believing Christians who have been steadfast with Israel since Oct. 7.”
Awardee Michael Dickson, executive director of StandWithUs Israel, told JNS that his organization’s social-media outreach has reached 2.2 billion since Oct. 7.
‘Putting in a little extra effort’
Aviva Klompas, co-founder and CEO of Boundless, a U.S. nonprofit providing education on Israel and antisemitism spoke to JNS right before receiving the award.
“It’s a dark, heartbreaking and devastating time with everybody stretched to the limit, and the fact that you have people putting in a little extra effort to do what they can to support Israel, demand the release of the hostages, support the soldiers and fight antisemitism is incredible, and I’m honored to be amongst them,” she said.
Gil Hoffman, executive director of HonestReporting, told JNS that his organization is receiving this award “for the hard work they have been doing since Oct. 7 in fighting for Israel on the media battlefield, which is the key to winning on the military battlefield. … I’m so glad that someone at the Knesset, MK Illouz, decided to take this initiative in order to give credit where credit it is due to organizations like ours and others.”
American Friends of Judea and Samaria co-founder Yigal Dilmoni told JNS that the award marked an exciting start to 2025.
“It has been a year of many challenges and successes, and we are very happy to be acknowledged by the Knesset for our important work in the United States,” he said. “Judea and Samaria is the heart of the Jewish nation and we need to ensure the security of this area for generations to come.”
Fleur Hassan-Nahoum and Emily Schrader, co-hosts of JNS TV’s “The Quad,” were also among the recipients of the award.
