Prominent Israel activist encourages Jews to “over contribute with love”

By Mark Cooper

(CALGARY) – Battle rising antisemitism one Shabbat dinner at a time, one of the world’s most recognizable post-October-7 Jewish activists told a captive Calgary audience.

Celebrated Israeli-born actor, producer, author and social media influencer Noa Tishby said Diaspora Jews should “over contribute with love” and show Western societies the “extraordinary” values held by the Jewish community, rather than becoming consumed by haters.

“A lot of people in the Jewish community are really bothered by the haters and I think that’s a waste of time,” Tishby told a crowd of more than 800 during a conversation-style event December 7, hosted by B’nai Brith Calgary at the city’s Beth Tzedec Congregation.

Instead, she advised people to expend their energy showing wider society the Jewish way of life and its obsession with community, education, respect for elders and strong family values.

“There’s something beautiful about the way of living as a Jew. We need to show that out, show that to the world.

“If I can leave you with that. Literally have a Shabbat dinner once a month for your non-Jewish friends. Bring your family, your friends and everybody around together and just see how it spreads out like magic.”

After more than 20 years of pro-Israel activism, including a stint as Israel’s Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism, the 50-year-old Tishby has learned there’s little value in arguing with those entrenched by hatred for Jews and Israel.

In more than a one-hour discussion moderated by Amanda Eskenasi, the Director of Honest Reporting Canada, Tishby said what’s critical at this time is that Jews don’t run and hide.

“Every Jew in the world is thinking ‘where are we going to go’. Everybody’s going ‘where do we escape’ and the thing to understand is there’s nowhere to go. You stay put and you work in your community and you dig in. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

“Everybody has a lane. Find out the lane and be bold and with chutzpah, open up and tell the truth.”

That includes working to build allyship with like-minded immigrant communities that love the West, share a similar work and life ethic and are grateful to leave oppressive government regimes and make Canada their home.

Tishby has found her lane, using her production experience, deep knowledge of the Middle East and communications savvy to bring awareness to the well-coordinated propaganda war being waged on Western streets and campuses.

She focuses on getting the message out, especially to younger generations online and on social media platforms where she has grown her following, gaining several hundred thousand followers on Instagram alone since the October 7, 2023 savage Hamas attacks. Her work reaches millions of people daily.

While her efforts are making significant impact, she recognizes she and other pro-Israel activists are up against a well-coordinated, and executed propaganda campaign and massive social media bot farm more than 30 years in the making that receives “unfathomable” amounts of funding by multi-state actors focused on delegitimizing Israel and destabilizing the West.

“They realized that they cannot take Israel down militarily and they shifted their strategy to delegitimize Israel’s standing in the world as the homeland of the Jewish people,” she said. “They are after dismantling Israel as a Jewish state by all means necessary which is why, when October 7th happened they were ready with a narrative of “resistance is justified’ all of that.”

“The fight on social media started far before people started to realize there was a fight on social media.”

“Just imagine if Hitler had TikTok. All these ideas that would take them longer to spread are spreading out like wildfire and again this is not just about the Jewish people or the State of Israel. The Jewish people and the State of Israel are patient zero on a worldwide war on truth, on reality…”

But she left the audience with a fierce confidence that while the battle will be long, the Jewish people will overcome this, just like they have at numerous times in history when various empires tried to destroy them.

“We know this has happened before and we know how this ends and it’s not going to end well for our enemies. It never does.

“That is the thing that keeps me hopeful and should keep all of us hopeful and not discouraged and not disheartened or exhausted.

“What’s a Jewish holiday? They tried to kill us, they didn’t succeed, let’s eat,” she quipped.

“Because we know that, we know that we’re not just going to survive this, we’re going to thrive this. We are actually really good under pressure.”

While things seem bleak now, she said it’s important to remember that Jewish ancestors had to deal with things much worse and even more terrifying and the faith continues to live on.

“We don’t know what the world is going to look like 500 years from now or a thousand years from now. We don’t know what borders are going to look like, what countries are going to look like, what humanity is going to look like. We have no idea.

“But if there’s one thing that we know for sure and that is that even a thousand years from now Jewish women are going to be lighting Shabbat candles. We know that.”

B’nai Brith Calgary President Stacy Shaikin said he was thrilled with the community turnout and the message that Tishby brought that while no one person will change the situation on their own, but each can use their own personal reach to contribute to the whole.

“Use your reach,” Shaikin said. “Don’t silo yourself and hunker down. Show the world that we are exactly as how Noa described us.

“We’re warm people. We’re interested in having a world that is lit up with kindness and joy and all of it.”

Mark Cooper is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.