More than a year has passed since the start of the pandemic, and it is time for you to know the results of UWI’s initiative.
The Genesis Prize Foundation last year announced the 26 Israeli and international non-profit organizations that received funding as part of Speak Out for Israel, a global campaign to promote the truth about Israel and counteract efforts to delegitimize the Jewish State.
Funding for the grants comes from the $1 million Genesis Prize, awarded to American philanthropist Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots football team.
Organizations were selected following a competition launched in November 2019 and administered by Matan-United Way Israel.
United with Israel (UWI), the world’s largest pro-Israel grassroots community, was among the chosen NGOs. With millions of followers in over 170 countries across the globe, UWI has many years of experience mobilizing the masses to advocate for Israel.
UWI started the project “Israel’s Global Fight Against Covid-19” before being awarded the grant. However, immediately upon receiving the grant in June, the NGO began focusing on how Israel influenced the world in leading the fight against the coronavirus.
THE UNITED WITH ISRAEL PROJECT
Over the past year, the world has been in a panic, worried about what is happening and what is going to happen. How and when will we get out of this situation? Would a vaccine bring an end to it? Will we return to the previous routine? There are many questions that each of us is asking. It is the main theme that occupies world attention. And that’s where United with Israel comes in.
Due to the worldwide focus on the coronavirus, UWI decided to take this new opportunity to improve Israel’s image abroad. Such opportunities are rare and must be seized. As it now stands, the most effective Hasbara tool is none other than Israel’s medical advances, Israel’s rapid rollout of vaccinations for COVID-19, and how Israel has reopened its economy faster than any other country in the world.
The world has changed. We must work rapidly to reach our mission to defend Israel in this new world by addressing the following:
How is Israel coping with Covid-19? How can Israel help the entire world in the fight against this virus? Can Israeli startups help in this global struggle, and how?
We know the answers to all these questions. Therefore, we must continue to Speak out for Israel.
Research Pays Off: UWI Published Over 2000 Articles
Since the start of the pandemic, United with Israel has dedicated many hours on research and content preparation. In the past year, UWI published over 2,000 articles and 60 videos, as well as 150 photos on Instagram and Facebook concerning Covid-19 in four languages (English, Spanish, French and Portuguese).
Multilingual audiovisual media were used to spearhead the project. We utilized all forms of social media, email, web, SEO, video, WhatsApp, SMS, mobile apps and more, to mobilize supporters to focus on how Israel is fighting the Covid-19.
There has been an increase of over 27 percent of visitors to our site, compared to the previous year.
We boosted our budget for writers and increased the work of our social media team.
We worked together with institutions such as Yad Sarah, Migal – Galilee Research Institute, and Lev Echad in order to promote the wonderful work they undertook during the worst moments of the crisis.
We created the Coronavirus Emergency Relief Fund. Critical funds are being distributed daily and will continue to be distributed based on the need. Monies have been distributed to Yad Sarah, MIGAL (Coronavirus Vaccine Development), Hatzalah, Agudah Lemaan Hachayal, Ezrat Achim, Bayit L’Chayalim Bodedim, Lemaan Achai, Yad Ezra, Keren Am Yisrael, Uvneh and many more. United with Israel also raises additional funds from its own Emergency Relief Fund.
And this is just the beginning. We look forward to working with the Genesis Prize Foundation. We are always open to collaboration that can benefit the State of Israel and the Jewish People.
What Challenges Did We Face?
United with Israel had to keep up to date with this dynamic project. Our objective was not only to keep the information relevant to the people we reach daily, but also to attract new readers and followers.
Israel successfully confronted the first wave of the virus, until July-August, and our main goal at the time was to promote this great achievement.
Unfortunately, as the number of cases increased rapidly and Israel was no longer an example of crisis management, we had to move to defending and promoting other achievements, including Israeli technology and the work of the medical teams. By this point, scientists and doctors were able to discover more about the virus and how to fight it, and we immediately acted to show the world Israel’s medical and technological advances, mostly related to the pandemic.
As the vaccination campaign began and moved forward at a fast pace, United with Israel focused on this great achievement. However, as Israel’s success was now clear, we faced misinformation, bias and, as expected, an anti-Semitic agenda.
Speak Out for Israel
The Genesis Prize Foundation and 2019 Genesis Prize laureate Robert Kraft have joined forces to combat the problem by launching “Speak Out for Israel.” The campaign involves awarding $1 million in grants to Israeli nonprofit organizations that create innovative responses to anti-Semitism.
Upon receiving the Genesis Prize, Kraft committed to forgoing the monetary award and directing it towards projects combating anti-Semitism and delegitimization of Israel. During his acceptance speech in June 2019, he also announced a $20 million personal donation to seed the creation of the new Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism.
Kraft and the Genesis Prize Foundation were joined by Concert-Together for Israel Ltd., a funding platform supporting the pro-Israel community of non-profit organizations dedicated to promoting a positive perception of Israel. Concert-Together for Israel, which made a major donation to the grant pool, is a partnership between the State of Israel and pro-Israel groups around the world. It is funded by a group of various independent philanthropists from around the world and matched by the Government of Israel.
“We are humbled by this honor and thank the Genesis Prize Foundation for recognizing our mission of inspiring Jewish pride, strengthening the bond between Israel and the Diaspora, and – our main goal – speaking out for Israel,” said UWI founder Michael Gerbitz.
United with Israel extends a special note of appreciation to the Genesis Prize for its generous support.