ZOA to Honor Ruddy, Stefanik at Fla. Awards Dinner

The ZOA, the nation’s oldest pro-Israel organization, will award Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy its Zionist Hero Award this coming Sunday in Florida.

The Zionist Organization of America will hold its gala “Heroes for Israel” awards in Davie, Florida, as it convenes during Israel’s Oct. 7 War with Hamas.

Mort Klein, President of the ZOA, said Ruddy was honored this year because “the news delivered by his network tells the truth about the Arab war against Israel.”

“I have tremendous respect for Mort Klein, the ZOA, and the work they have done over decades to strengthen the ties between America and Israel,” Chris Ruddy said. “I am truly honored by this award.”

The ZOA also announced that Congresswoman Elise Stefanik will be receiving ZOA’s Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Defender of Israel Award.

Dr. Adelson will also be in attendance to bestow the award to Stefanik.

Klein said, “In the wake of the Hamas massacre, it was Congresswoman Stefanik’s tough and unrelenting questioning of the presidents of MIT, Harvard, and Penn at a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism that helped expose that university leaders are not adequately protecting Jewish students from antisemitic harassment and intimidation.”

Other awardees include Congressman Brian Mast, who will be receiving ZOA’s Dr. Bob Shillman Zionism Award and Paul Tartell, M.D., a ZOA National Board Member, who will receive its Pillar of the Community Award.

The dinner, co-chaired by Helene and Lewis Stahl and Barbara and Elgie Gibson, will also include Israel’s Consul General in Miami Maor Elbaz-Starinsky and other elected officials.

More information on the dinner is available at zoa.org/floridagala