In April 2022, Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid announced that he would appoint Noa Tishby as the foreign ministry's special envoy for combating antisemitism. In April 2023, the foreign ministry ended its engagement with her after she spoke out against the judicial reform. In October 2023, Tishby, along with hundreds of actors, comedians, and entertainment executives from Hollywood, signed an open letter to President Joe Biden calling for the release of hostages held by the Hamas terrorist organization following the October 7 massacre.
In a conversation on Yasmin's Salon Podcast, Tishby told Yasmin Lukatz, "Israel's standing in global public opinion today is as bad as it can get."
Video: Noa Tishbi with Yasmin Lukatz
Yasmin: "We see a lot of antisemitism expressions in the media, reporting a lot of cases in the United States and all over the world. Is it exaggerated? Are things really that bad?"
Noa: "Great question. I don't think it's fully exaggerated. I think it really is as bad as it has ever been, and it's been bad for many decades. But we are at a turning point in terms of the diminishing brand of what Israel is and what a Jew is, and the melding of these two terms is really bad. And the problem is that it's not necessarily the majority of humanity, but it's the loudest voices. So the problem is that these are the people that we hear about the most. There's nothing shameful about saying flat out, 'I hate Israelis. If you're an Israeli, you're hated. And if you are a Jew, you're clearly controlling America.'"
Yasmin: "It's not just not shameful, it's like people take pride."
Noa: "It's a badge of honor. I've written in my first book that anti-Zionism became this new, hip social justice cause. The book came out years ago, so this is not a new phenomenon, but it became so prevalent and so widespread and so normalized that it's extremely concerning. And the loud minority has taken over the conversation such that the majority that is silent is starting to question themselves as well. So the problem that we're seeing in terms of antisemitism and anti-Zionism and this vitriol against Israel, it doesn't matter if you're antisemitic per se or you just hate the Israeli government right now and their actions.
Which is okay, to criticize the state of Israel and the Israeli government, and politicians, and politics, and policies, and so forth. So the big difference right now is that people who are silent are kind of going, 'maybe there's something to it.' And the divide is by age. So the problem that we're having is not necessarily Democrats or Republicans, ethnicity background, religion."
Yasmin: "Which is what really worries us, because the one that likes us the least are the younger ones."
Noa: "The people that are supportive of Israel in terms of the American public are 55-year-old men and older. That's it. 55-year-old men, white men. Those are the only community in the United States right now that is supportive of Israel. The problem is that they are only 15% of the American public in terms of ages 18 to 34, right? 6% of them support the State of Israel."
Yasmin: "How was it in the past?"
Noa: "Much higher than that. So, in terms of Israel's actions in Gaza, 9% of Americans are supportive of it. We've never seen numbers like that. So, is it specifically antisemitism? Is it anti-Zionism? Is it anti-Benjamin Netanyahu? Is it anti-Israel? Is it anti-Ben-Gvir? Who knows by now? But right now, we are in this mishmash of hatred towards Israel, towards Israelis, and towards Jews."
Yasmin: "I think maybe one of the misconceptions of the Israeli public is that we don't understand the breadth of how people don't like us."
Noa: "That's true. And the thing is that we have put all our chips as the state of Israel in the American president, in Donald Trump, and a lot of people obviously, within the Democratic Party but also in the Republican Party, are starting to turn on us. The rift within the MAGA movement right now is around Israel and Epstein. So Israel and a Jew, Epstein is, you know, they want to release the files. We have some files, and Trump is against it. There's a whole thing going on within the MAGA movement and the support of Israel. So we need to be very concerned and explain to young Americans why the state of Israel is an asset, and why the Jewish community needs to be protected as a protected minority. And there's work to be done."
During the episode, Tishby explained the problems with having "no public diplomacy, no advocacy for the IDF":
Noa: "The Israeli media doesn't show what's happening there. However, the anger directed at us isn't because it isn't shown in the local media. As Israelis, we don't understand why they're so angry at us. If we saw the images they see, we'd at least understand why they're angry. And then there are ministers in the government who say we'll starve Gaza, and then pictures come out of hungry children in Gaza. It's hard to explain that it's a delusional minister no one takes seriously. It's really hard to explain that. I'd be very happy if the prime minister controlled his ministers' mouths more.
"For example, today, when they talk about occupying Gaza, the word occupation, I'm sure you know this too, is the worst red flag for the entire world. And that's why there's a more severe diplomatic tsunami now, where all our allied countries – Germany, Australia, England, France – are also turning against us."
