RICI to present Sy Dill Mensch of the Year Award

The Rhode Island Coalition for Israel (RICI) recently announced that its “Mensch of the Year” award, presented in 2019 to now-retired RI State Police Lt Colonel Joseph Philbin, has been renamed the “Sy Dill Mensch of the Year Award” in memory of the recently-deceased pro-Israel fighter and founding RICI leader.  Mary Greene, RICI president, said, “This year’s award will be going to Brian Goldman of Blue Bug Solutions for his company’s public-spirited display of RICI’s ‘STOP ANTISEMITISM’ banner on the iconic Blue Bug on Rt. 95. That banner brought a flood of new members to RICI and raised community awareness of a growing problem.” RICI will present the award at a Oct. 18 Zoom conference.

The group continues to pursue an awareness campaign against anti-Semitism. On Sept. 16,  RICI leaders organized a public presentation of “The New Antisemites” to RI Sen. Elaine Morgan (R-District 34) and Rep.-elect Ramon Perez (D-District 13) at the State House.

The book is a study by the Zachor Institute and
StopAntiSemitism.org, RICI hopes community leaders will inform themselves about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of AntiSemitism. That definition has received international approval by some 40 countries and is increasingly being adopted by U.S. governmental entities and NGOs.

At the September 16 event, Morgan noted that “Anti-Semitism has gotten worse with COVID-19, but the press won’t report it.” She expressed her desire to work with RICI, and expressed an interest in introducing a resolution in the next session of the General Assembly proclaiming “RI Anti-Semitism Awareness Day.”

Representative-elect Ramon Perez, who drives a taxi emblazoned with the Star of David and the Shema prayer, stated, “People say Black Lives Matter  – Jewish lives matter too. Israeli lives matter.”

For information on RICI, email ricoalitionforisrael@gmail.com.

Submitted by the Rhode Island Coalition for Israel