For 57 years — beginning shortly after the 1967 Six-Day War — the Jewish Community Relations Council of Southern New Jersey has been honoring Israel advocates. For most of that time, the organization has proudly proclaimed where the event will be taking place and has welcomed all, even attendees who show up at the door.
But times have changed, which is why on March 15, the site of this year’s event will be kept under wraps until everyone has registered.
“The way we are in the world today, it’s pretty common across the board at this point,” said Sabrina Spector, the JCRC of Southern New Jersey’s director. “As we get closer, we’ll send out more information. Social media has changed everything. It’s just a safer, better approach for right now. Five years ago, I wouldn’t have anticipated this.”
She emphasizes the fact that this year’s keynote speaker, Yoseph Haddad, isn’t even Jewish.
“Now, thank God, that the war is over, we’re looking forward to rebuilding Israel,” she said about the JCRC’s choice of Haddad, an outspoken Arab-Israeli who’s been at the forefront of the issue for over 20 years. “But we also really need to focus a little bit on our allyship, which has been really strained in the last couple of years, and also understanding who our advocates are.
“You’ll see Haddad, who is an Arab-Israeli and has an incredible story, and who has been out there advocating for Israel strongly internationally at colleges and in a variety of different formats online. He’s an incredible ally for us, and it’s important for our community to know that we’re not alone.”
Born in Haifa, the 40-year-old Haddad joined the Israel Defense Forces in 2003 and fought for the IDF in the Second Lebanon War in 2006, where he suffered a serious injury. He’s since been active in trying to coordinate a better relationship between Arabs and Jews in Israel, including through the 2018 founding of Vouch for Each Other, an organization that works to bring the “Arab community closer to Israeli society,” according to its website.
That’s what made him a natural choice for the JCRC. “Every year, we feature a keynote speaker who comes to talk about all sorts of topics around the Middle East and Israel advocacy,” said Spector. “We’ve had ambassadors, diplomats, influencers — a long line of guests.”
Haddad fits right in with them. “Having Yoseph Haddad speak at our annual JCRC Israel Advocacy Event is both an honor and a privilege,” said Israel Advocacy Event Chair Jennifer Gotliv. “His voice reminds us of the power of truth, courage and meaningful conversation.”
Another highlight of the event is the presentation of the Community Israel Advocacy Award, which will go to Mark Kramer. Kramer has traveled to Israel on multiple occasions, most recently as a volunteer for the Jewish National Fund and Leket, Israel’s National Food Bank.
Kramer is also the current vice president of the JCRC, a board member of the South Jersey Jewish National Fund and a board member for the Virtua Health Foundation. Prior to that, he served as president of Temple Beth Sholom in Cherry Hill from 2017-19.
The JCRC will also present its newly-created Community Award to Rinat Morad. She’s worked tirelessly to create a home-away-from-home for Israeli families while serving on the JCRC’s board.
Finally, with an eye toward the future, the Next Gen Israel Advocacy Award will go to Cherry Hill High School East senior Josh Resnick. Over the past two years, he’s led the school’s Jewish Student Union and organized a mission to Washington for the JSU to meet with elected officials about the rise of antisemitism.
“We really want the community to be engaged,” said Spector. “Since Oct. 7, there’s been a definite increase in engagement and wanting to know about Israel, about the issues and the things we can do to fight antisemitism.
“There’s so much information out there. People are looking to find people they can trust, resources that they can rely on and information that they feel comfortable with. So, that’s one of the things that we try to do at JCRC: programming that helps people funnel out the fiction and the facts. We work very well with our elected officials and invite them to many of our programs. We have wonderful interfaith relationships, and we work closely with our schools, our superintendents and principals.”
The deadline to register for the event is March 9. While there’s a range of fees for sponsorships, VIP tickets and general admission, there’s no charge for high school and college students.
“We think it’s really important for them,” said Spector. “They should be educated on the issues surrounding Israel, and we want them to come to these programs. We don’t want price to be a barrier.”
Jon Marks is a Philadelphia-area freelance writer.