The Media Research Center was represented in a major Newsmax delegation to Israel hosted by the globally recognized faith-based group Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce to show solidarity with the Jewish State against the anti-Semitic propaganda by the world media. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the delegation during a keynote speech, and U.S. President Donald Trump later affirmed its importance.
Everywhere we went, the message from the people on the ground and in government was the same: The global media are lying about Israel as they nefariously attempt to paint the Jewish State as the real antagonist of a war that murderous terrorists started. The evidence we witnessed on the field confirms this. At the Newsmax July 4th Celebration Gala for U.S. journalists, Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce guest Netanyahu stated that there were “seven fronts” Israel was fighting against global terror sponsor “Iran and its proxies.” However, said Netanyahu, there’s an “eighth front, the battle for truth. And Newsmax, you have let the truth circle the globe against the lies.”
Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese, who was part of the Newsmax delegation, recently sat down with Trump upon her return during an exclusive interview, where the topic of Israel was discussed. After mentioning her recent trip with the Newsmax delegation and the reason we went, Trump affirmed that Israel “may be winning the war, but they’re not winning the world of public relations, you know, and it is hurting them,” underscoring the massive effect the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce and its partner Newsmax brought to the global discussion in providing a crucial avenue for Israel to combat the pro-Hamas sludge in the global media ecosphere circulating on TV, podcasts and social media like clockwork.
MRC is proud to have joined this effort.
What was accomplished in the week-long delegation (Aug. 10 - Aug. 15) was nothing short of exemplary. Not only did the delegates — which featured prominent figures like Harvard Law School Professor Emeritus Alan Dershowitz and former CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations Malcolm Hoenlein — tour the major Christian and Jewish holy sites around Jerusalem, but MRC and its allies were given access to on-the-ground information by IDF leaders such as the Hatzerim Airbase Commander, and Israeli government figures such as President Isaac Herzog, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa’ar regarding the continuing warfare with terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas.
In the South, the Newsmax delegation met with citizens of the Kibbutz Nahal Oz, which is located just a few hundred metres from the Gaza Strip and was one of the areas invaded by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.
The delegation was also brought to the site of the Nova Music Festival Massacre to meet with Mazal Tazazo, a survivor who witnessed nearly 400 people butchered at the hands of Hamas’s al-Qassam brigades. Bombs were still going off in the near distance as IDF forces were still decimating the hundreds of miles of tunnels Hamas had built underneath Gaza.
Delegates also flew over the Sea of Galilee to visit with the families of the 12 children from a Syrian Druze community slaughtered by Hezbollah via rocket-fire on a soccer field in Majdal Shams on the Golan Heights in the North. The Orthodox Jewish of Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Duvi Honig signed an historic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Ein Qiniyye Village Mayor Wael Moghrabi in support of the Druze community affected by the tragedy.
The Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce hopes to use its journalist mission to Israel as a template to unite honest journalists and faith-based organizations around the U.S. to protect and fight for their values by making their voices heard in Washington, D.C. Honig himself was invited to speak on Trump’s December 2020 Faith-Based Call, which included over 850 leaders nationwide. Together with the administration, they discussed the impact they made together in empowering job creation, business development, and legislation that directly strengthens faith-based communities.
(From right to left: Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce CEO Duvi Honig with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara).
Honig has established a vast network of connections across the globe to encourage unity and solidarity through commerce and has established himself on the American front to protect religious freedoms, combat antisemitism and broker agreements on business cooperation between governments. A well-known leader, Honig has “cultivated relationships with top U.S. policymakers, including President Donald Trump and members of his administration, as well as with leaders across the Middle East, from Turkey to the Gulf states,”as Ynet News summarized.
As Honig told MRC, “It is a true honor to use the strength of commerce and the vast networks of the faith-based community to build bridges between all sectors, races, and religions — uniting people to fight hate, resist terror, and protect democracy for the next generation.” Honig’s organization also established the National Roundtable for Presidents of Chambers of Commerce in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Secretary, and prior faith-based leadership.
During the delegation, Honig, Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, Dershowitz and Hoenlein presented U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee with the prestigious Morris Katz Award — named after a famous Holocaust survivor and Jewish hero who became known as ‘The World’s Fastest Painter’ — for his defense of Israel and ongoing fight against terrorism at the Gala.
Honig and MRC Business Associate Editor Joseph Vazquez immediately struck up a friendship during the trip. Honig spoke in depth with Vazquez about the need to build on the momentum started by the mission he organized in partnership with Newsmax:
The historic mission that united over 50 media leaders could not have been possible without my close friend and dear partner, Christopher Ruddy. The call for a unified media presence on the ground to advocate for truth could not have been answered more effectively than through the mission we led together.
As Honig concluded, to have Netanyahu “join as our keynote and recognize us as ‘fighting on the eighth front of the war against terror’ is not a compliment to take lightly.” Rather, said Honig, “It demonstrates true leadership and success.” Honig also praised how Reese’s follow-up interview with Trump “in the Oval Office — reflecting on what we were so passionate to accomplish bringing awareness about Israel’s damaged image in public opinion — further validated the impact of our work.”
