Algemeiner Editor-in-Chief Dovid Efune, addressing Monday night’s gala. Photo: Fotobuddy Photography.

Citing Zionist leaders Ze’ev Jabotinsky and Theodor Herzl, the editor-in-chief of The Algemeiner told the crowd who gathered Monday night in New York to celebrate the Jewish publication and its endeavors that a dream was being advanced.

“It’s a dream that we all share for the Jewish people — to finally have a voice in the great global media battleground,” Dovid Efune said to the star-studded, 600-strong audience at Manhattan’s Gotham Hall. “But not just any voice, a respected voice, a strong voice, a proud voice, a fearless voice, and a voice that can compete against the biggest and the best.”

Efune, who was honoring a list of 100 people who have had a positive impact on the Jewish people and Israel over the past year – and presenting special awards to French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, British Justice Minister Michael Gove, actress Tovah Feldshuh and philanthropist Jeffrey Rosen – invoked Jabotinsky to illuminate the role he sees The Algemeiner playing.

“Like the function of the blood circulating through the body, so is the function of journalism in the realm of the spirit,” Efune quoted the renowned Russian-Jewish revisionist. “Cities have been destroyed, and more will fall, but what was shouted in the wilderness thousands of years ago is alive and still relevant. The world was created by the word; the world will be mended by the article.”

Efune said that though the above was written 84 years ago, “As we move deeper and deeper into the information age, in a world where young people consume up to nine hours of media every single day, the significance of this concept is magnified many, many times over.”

To illustrate, Efune pointed to concrete accomplishments that The Algemeiner has witnessed on this score through its efforts: “Google has changed its algorithms to remove antisemitic entries as a result of our reporting,” he said. “College administrators across the country have been prompted to respond to the intimidation of Jewish students on campus as a result of our reporting. And we have been honored to serve as a voice for the many voiceless victims of senseless terror around the world.”

Watch Dovid Efune’s full address below: