In her speech, Marina Rosenberg-Koritnaya said:
First of all, I want to greet the editorial board of ‘Israel Today’ for the wonderful idea of awarding women who have made a special contribution in various areas of Israeli society’s life. Golda Meir once said: ‘It’s not so important in your youth to decide what you intend to do when you grow up. It’s far more important to decide which path you will take. Will you be honest with yourself and your friends, will you participate in the fight for the good of other people. To me, that’s the most important.’ Undoubtedly, it’s important to leave a noticeable mark in the history of all humanity. But in recent months, all of humanity has been convinced of the gigantic role women play in the life of the country and society in Israel. After that terrible day of October 7, 2023, we all and the whole world with us were convinced that our women are heroic warriors. On October 7, four 20-year-old girls – a tank crew from the ‘Pere’ company of the ‘Karakal’ brigade – destroyed 50 terrorists and repelled all attempts by HAMAS militants to penetrate Israel on the southern flank. There are hundreds, thousands of examples of the heroism of women warriors fighting in all branches of the military on the southern and northern fronts. No less heroism and resilience are shown by thousands of wives, sisters, mothers, and grandmothers of our warriors, providing them with a truly strong rear.

I, the head of the Department for Aliyah Support of the WZO, annually establish and maintain contacts with a quarter of a million Jews living in different countries of the world. I am convinced that Aliyah is the highest value of Zionism and the State of Israel. Once the Jewish people needed their own state, and now the Jewish state needs its people. In 2023, more than 45,000 people made Aliyah to Israel. That’s about the population of a city like Ramat Ha-Sharon.

I’ll let you in on a secret: our research has shown that in the vast majority of families, the decision to make Aliyah is made by a woman. And this is a very serious decision that changes the life of the family not only at the moment but for many generations to come. Therefore, we have developed and implemented a whole range of projects in support of Aliyah, specifically aimed at women. Among them are ‘Geula’ – a program for preparing young women leaders, and ‘Golden Golda’ – awarding prizes to women who have made a special contribution to the development of their communities and support for Aliyah. Women have a decisive influence on the future of their families, the entire society, the whole country. It is not for nothing that our primary sources assert: ‘thanks to righteous women, the people of Israel left Egypt, and each generation is saved and survives only thanks to the righteous women of each generation’…

I want to thank all our heroic women once again from the bottom of my heart for everything they have done and are doing, and, of course, the 18 wonderful women who we are awarding today for their special contribution in all areas of life of our society and country!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!