Several hundred family members, friends, Knesset members and Israel Defense Forces soldiers gathered at the Oz VeGaon Nature Preserve in Gush Etzion on Sept. 28 for the annual Lion of Zion prize in memory of renowned Israel advocate Ari Fuld, on his seventh yahrzeit. 

Fuld, 45, who was born in New York and immigrated to Israel in 1994, was murdered by an Arab teenager in 2018, several days before Yom Kippur, outside a mall near the Gush Etzion Junction. With his last breaths, he managed to chase down, shoot and neutralize the terrorist, preventing even greater carnage, before succumbing to his wounds.

This year’s prize was awarded to Avi Abelow, Fuld’s friend since childhood and a prominent Israel advocate in his own right, for his work in carrying out Fuld’s legacy through his Pulse of Israel Show and 12Tribe Films Foundation platforms. Abelow is also a regular contributor to JNS.

The event was hosted by the Ari Fuld Project, an organization formed in Fuld’s memory, whose mission is to advance projects Fuld was working on at the time of his murder, including those that spread Torah, promote Israel advocacy and lend support to IDF soldiers. 

Stephen Leavitt, director of the Ari Fuld Project and editor of the new Ari Fuld’s Israel Shield magazine, told JNS that what makes the message of this year’s event unique is that while Israel is still fighting the physical war on many battlefronts, the advocacy war has picked up steam and become central.

“We’re facing global bans and sanctions and antisemitism on social media and on campus. The more Israel wins, the viler and violent the antisemitism becomes,” said Leavitt.

He said one of the main goals of the organization is to equip the people on Israel’s side with the tools and the strength to fight back confidently.

The organization recently printed and distributed 70,000 copies of Ari Fuld’s Israel Shield magazine throughout Israel and the United States as a tool for advocates, said Leavitt. He also praised Abelow for receiving this year’s award.

“Avi picked up Ari’s baton in teaching Torah and doing advocacy work and ran with it, continuing Ari’s mission. His voice is very important, telling the truth,” said Leavitt.

Ari Fuld lived with his wife, Miriam, and four children in Efrat. His widow told JNS that the mission of the Ari Fuld Project is two-fold: to serve as a memorial for Ari and to continue the projects he was working on when he was murdered.

She said when the organization decides whether to take on a project, the first question it asks is, “Is this something Ari would back?” She explained that Ari had already been traveling to Israeli communities on the border with Gaza, such as Sderot, to broadcast and share the realities of life under fire as well as to show support.

“When we had a question about whether we should be supporting evacuees from the frontlines, the answer was ‘yes,’ since that is something Ari did,” she said.

“Ari was involved in our shul and community, so should we build a Beit Midrash? Yes, 100%. So those are our guidelines,” she added.

Miriam shared that the construction of the Ari Fuld Beit Midrash, within Efrat’s Zayit Raanan synagogue, where the Fuld family prays and dedicated to the memories of Roey Weiser and Elkana Newlander, two Israeli soldiers from Efrat who fell in battle against Hamas, was near completion.

Abelow told JNS that the honor left him with mixed emotions.

“There is no other prize in the world I would want to get. The Lion of Zion in memory of Ari Fuld is the top of the top,” he said.

On the other hand, he said, it was only because of Fuld’s tragic death that there was an award to give. “I wish he were just here to continue fighting the fight on the ground for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel with the truth, like we did before he was murdered,” he said.

“But God thought otherwise and wanted him next to him up above in the heavens to fight for the Jewish people from there,” he added.

Abelow stressed that Israel was winning the war against its enemies because the Jewish people are returning to understand who they are and are more connected now to Jewish identity in their ancestral homeland.

“I know Ari’s spirit is out there because we are winning this war and Ari is up there pulling the strings from the heavens,” he said.

Several prominent leaders representing the Druze community in the Golan Heights traveled hours to attend and show support for the Fuld family and the IDF soldiers present. 
 
Neshat Amasha, a Druze educator who teaches at a Majdal Shams high school, described the brotherhood Jews and Druze soldiers had for each other in life, and unfortunately, “in blood.”

“Together we protect the Land of Israel, because we have no other land,” he told JNS.

Amasha said it was both emotional and heartwarming how the government of Israel had recently stepped up to help protect the Druze in Sweida, Syria. He insisted that Druze and Jews must continue to work together to safeguard the State of Israel, a mission Ari Fuld wholeheartedly supported.

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