Molan: A defender of Israel’s legacy
“I won’t ever forget the things that I saw. They will be in my mind forever and they will play on my mind forever, but in some way I think that’s a good thing,” Molan told The AJN.
“I DON’T know what it is about that place, but there’s something very magical about that country and its people that I felt straight away,” media personality Erin Molan told The AJN after she returned from her first trip to Israel.
Over the last 15 months Molan has been an unwavering voice of clarity, with her powerful video clips reaching as far as Israel’s President Isaac Herzog, who she met with during her visit late last year with the Australia Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).
“I’m sitting there and he is quoting my own pieces back to me, while his wife is pulling me aside to discuss my video about what terrorism needs to thrive,” said Molan.
“And I’m just thinking, it’s mind blowing how much of an impact something that, in my mind, is just so obvious can have on people who are doing it so tough.”
Despite visiting a country at war, Molan said she had no fears or anxiety about her trip.
“It was incredible how hopeful and how inspired I felt given the kinds of things that I saw,” she said.
What she witnessed during her whirlwind visit included the raw footage of the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas.
“I didn’t particularly want to, but I felt I needed to,” said Molan.
“I won’t ever forget the things that I saw. They will be in my mind forever and they will play on my mind forever, but in some way I think that’s a good thing,” said Molan.
“I don’t think we can afford, as a society, to look away from what happened on that day. As we all know, it never ends where it starts with terrorism and extremists.”
After watching the harrowing October 7 footage, Molan said she is struggling to come to terms with the utter elation shown by the terrorists.
“I’ve seen a fair bit of evil in my time – not first hand thank goodness – but what I can’t stop thinking about is the joy that they seemed to derive from the most horrific acts I’ve ever witnessed,” she said.
“The horrors that I heard about, that I saw, the places I stood in that felt so eerie, will change me forever as a person. I didn’t need to be changed or convinced, as anyone who has watched any of my work will attest to prior to me going, but I think my resolve now to stand up for what is right and good has been even further strengthened by my trip.”
Molan met with politicians and everyday Israelis, she spoke to survivors and families of hostages, addressed audiences, visited the kibbutzim and the site of the Nova festival, and was awestruck by the absence of anger or vengeance.
“That’s what blows my mind,” she said.
“They weren’t looking for revenge or retaliation, they just wanted their people home and they wanted peace. That, to me, is such a profound difference between them and the people that perpetrated October 7 in terms of what they value and what they wanted.
“If you look at the protests around the world, those that seem to side with Hamas call for the eradication of Israel, the eradication of Jews – for destruction. When Jewish or Israeli people gather, all they do is say ‘Bring Them Home’. They don’t want to destroy other people, they want their people home. I just kept seeing the most stark examples of that mentality.”
Molan had been told her popularity has reached Taylor Swift heights in Israel, but she was still overwhelmed by the love and gratitude she was shown, “for just standing up for what is right, for just telling the truth”.
She recounted an occasion during her visit when one soldier drove for hours just to come to one of her events, despite not even having a ticket. But he managed to meet Molan and handed her a badge of the Israeli flag that he was wearing on October 7 and described the impact her videos have had.
“The soldier said, ‘I just want you to know we are defending our people and we are standing up for what is right. I’m there when we make decisions, we do everything we can to not hurt innocent people. We live this day in, day out, and we feel like the whole world is against us, but when your videos started to be sent to us from family we would sit there, all of us soldiers, and watch them and we felt like you understand and we felt less alone’,” said Molan.
The trip was emotional for Molan on many levels, particularly when she connected with people who had met her father, the late Senator Jim Molan, who served in the Australian Army for over 40 years and reached the rank of Major General.
In 2014, Senator Molan was part of a high level military delegation that found “Israel took extraordinary efforts to avoid civilian casualties” during Operation Protective Edge.
“Obviously dad was such an incredible ally to Israel and to the Australian Jewish community, he went over to Israel many times,” said Molan, who described her father as having the truest moral compass of anyone she’s known.
“I met the speaker of the house at the Knesset and he presented me with a framed photo of him and dad, which was so beautiful and emotional.
“It was really special to meet people who had met him.”
Molan’s support for Israel has not been without sacrifice and concern, particularly as a single mother, but she said the love outweighs the hate “ten-fold”.
“I’m so unwavering in my belief that what I am doing is for the good of the world and humanity, that people who either can’t see that or refuse to, don’t bother me,” she said.
“I’m battle hardened in that space.”
After Molan suddenly parted ways with Sky News at the end of last year, she is now excited about the “mind blowing” opportunities coming her way.
“I feel very blessed,” she said.
“For whatever reason an organisation doesn’t see value in what you’re doing and that’s a reality of the business I’m in, but it’s still going to hurt, it’s still scary, but literally hours later my phone started ringing from all over the world.
“In a year where I’ve lost all my jobs, to feel the most excited I’ve ever felt professionally – I feel very grateful.”
Perhaps it’s why when she visited the Western Wall, instead of writing down her wishes on a note, she simply wrote “thank you”.
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