Ahead of the 50th year anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem, Zionist organization Im Tirtzu initiated a video contest inviting the Israeli public to submit videos describing what best defines being Israeli.
According to Im Tirtzu, the goal of the “Hachi Yisraeli” (“Most Israeli”) video contest was to provide an opportunity to the Israeli public to express their love for Israel by presenting the values that they believe best reflect the State of Israel.
The videos submitted to the contest were uploaded to social media and were viewed and voted on by tens of thousands of Israelis. Last night, the winners of the contest were announced in a ceremony at Tel-Aviv’s Lev Cinema.
The winners were announced in two categories – the people’s choice award that was selected based on popular vote, and the judges award that was selected by a team of judges including singer-songwriter Avihu Medina, media personality Yotam Zimri, international TV anchor Alejandra Castellanos Bar-Av and social media personality Ezri Tubi.
The 20,000 NIS grand prize was awarded to IDF reservist Alex Schultz for his video “On the Way to Gaza We Stop at Brazil,” which documented his vacation in Brazil that turned into a month-long stint in Gaza after cutting short his vacation to return to Israel to fight in Operation Protective Edge.
The first prize of people’s choice award was awarded to David Poist for his video “The Tagger,” which depicted the unity within Israel by shattering common preconceptions regarding various sectors of Israeli society.
Im Tirtzu’s Program Director Bar Shalev said that “the stories behind the videos were very moving – from a 14-year-old boy who spent his savings on video editing software to make a video about the IDF, to a pair of brothers – one living in Canada and one serving as a lone soldier in the IDF – who together created a video. The contest achieved its goal – to rouse the love for Israel among the Israeli public.”
Im Tirtzu CEO Matan Peleg emphasized: “The goal of the contest was to encourage the public to take part in building a Zionist culture and consciousness in Israel. The contest also served as a bridge that unified all aspects of Israeli society around the idea of love for the Land, despite the daily disagreements that might occur between them.”
Peleg added that “at a time of increasing anti-Israel propaganda, whether it’s being promoted from within Israel or abroad, it is critical to provide a pro-Israel response. We are dealing with a battle of ideas that will determine the future of the State of Israel, and therefore it is important for all parts of Israeli society to come together to defend it.”