NGO Monitor on eliminating human rights monitoring of Israel entirely and smearing anyone who supports this vital activity". The 2013 Menachem Begin Prize was awarded to NGO Monitor, "a leading organization defending the State of Israel and the Jewish people." The Begin Prize is awarded for “extraordinary act(s) for the benefit of the State of Israel and/or the Jewish People.” Natan Sharansky said, “NGO Monitor is the leading organization defending the State of Israel and the Jewish people.” Leonard Fein, writing for "The Forward" in 2005, said that NGO Monitor is "an organization that believes that the best way to defend Israel
Natan Shalem Natan Shalem Natan Shalem (October 10, 1897 - 1959) was an Israeli geographer, geologist and researcher. Shalem was born in Thessaloniki to a traditional Jewish family. Growing up Shalem studied in various Jewish educational institutes. In 1914 Shalem immigrated to Ottoman Palestine. During the First World War Shalem began to teach in the moshava Sejera. In 1919 Shalem went to study geology in Florence where he obtained his doctorate in 1924. After getting his doctorate Shalem returned to Palestine and settled in Jerusalem, where he worked as a teacher for geography, chemistry and physics at the Gymnasia Rehavia. Within this