‘I think it’s tragic to hold these views’
“I’m gay, I’m Jewish. I’ve identified my entire life as a liberal, but because I was a proud Zionist, because I wore my Magen David in the office, because I was unapologetic about my support and love of the Jewish people in the Jewish state – that put me beyond the pale..."
“HOW can we be a Queen Esther, in our own lives?”
This was the question posed by ex-opinion editor for The New York Times Bari Weiss during her discussion at the United Israel Appeal (UIA) Women’s Division event last Sunday.
Weiss quoted the famous character from the Megillah as a model of heroism for contemporary times, particularly in relation to how Diaspora Jews can present Israel to the wider community.
“We can out ourselves and defend the Jewish people, defend Jewish interests and defend the State of Israel,” Weiss stated.
The inspiring columnist was interviewed via Zoom by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin in Sydney.
It was a first-time national event of the Women’s Division campaigns in Victoria, NSW and WA, with the discussion being live-streamed across the country, watched by around 1000 people.
In Melbourne, supporters watched from the Classic Cinema, while viewing parties were held at 45 different private homes across Sydney.
Weiss, who was bullied for her political beliefs while working at The New York Times, is a proud Zionist, and spoke about the choice Jews are being forced to make to be a Zionist or not, saying it is “ultimately a no-brainer”, and to those Jews who identify as anti-Zionist or anti-Israel, Weiss said, “I think it’s tragic to hold these views but I think it’s a story that is as ancient as the Jewish people.”
Weiss said, “We’re living in a series of these rolling moral panics,” such as the anti-Trump movement, Black Lives Matter and even COVID-19, and she highlighted that, “Anyone who didn’t adhere to every single aspect of this new orthodoxy was seen as someone who is a heretic.”
“I’m gay, I’m Jewish. I’ve identified my entire life as a liberal, but because I was a proud Zionist, because I wore my Magen David in the office, because I was unapologetic about my support and love of the Jewish people in the Jewish state – that put me beyond the pale,” Weiss shared.
“It wouldn’t matter how socially liberal I was or how vegan I was, or how much I believed in legalising marijuana or criminal justice reform or any other of these sort of core liberal issues. What mattered is I was outside the bounds on this, on what had become a sort of totemic subject, and that was the subject of Israel.”
In reference to her public resignation from The New York Times in 2020, Weiss encouraged the same integrity from other emerging Jewish journalists.
She emphasised the importance of having a healthy Jewish press, one that “holds Jewish power and Jewish institutions and the Jewish establishment to account, that also investigates the incredible and disturbing rise in antisemitism, but also celebrates the things that should be celebrated like the Abraham Accords, a story that should be front page news, and yet somehow has gone unbelievably overlooked in the West.”
The event raised funds towards First Line Families, an early intervention outreach program for families in crisis in Israel. Additional donations on the day went to towards UIA’s emergency campaign, saving Jewish lives in Ukraine.
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