Erin the Magnificent

This week I had the honour of meeting and listening to a presentation of the remarkable Australian news hostess Erin Molan on her first visit to Israel.  She is everything we beleaguered Jews dream of.  Since October 7, despite having no “skin” in the game, not being Jewish or Israeli, she clearly knows right from wrong.  She has courageously been using her platform, despite threats against her and her family, to champion the case for Israel.  She stated in Tel Aviv this week:

What they (Hamas) did was not F*ing resistance.  It was evil, and how anyone in the world could have even seen one percent of what I have seen, for anyone not to see so clearly, who is good, who is not, who is right and who is wrong, will baffle me for the rest of my life.

What baffles all of us is why so few people see it as clearly as Erin.  Where are the Jewish stars with massive social media following?  Are they scared of being “cancelled?”  Whilst I and my fellow IDF soldiers put our lives on the line every single day, there are those who, to quote a letter of admonition penned by legendary Shimon Bar Kochba during the second century CE towards the end of the abortive revolt against the Roman occupation forces:

In comfort sit and eat…and care nothing for their brothers.

 Thankfully we have the “righteous gentiles” such as Erin, Douglas Murray and Colonel Richard Kemp who light the way for the rest of the world.  Who give us hope.  Who clearly see right from wrong.

Erin Molan with Tuvia in TelAviv this week. Photo (c) T. Book, 2024

Erin, in addition to receiving threats, told us that she was publicly sacked from Sky News Australia as a primetime contributor, despite the popularity and high ratings of her show, probably because of her outspoken pro-Israel stand.  Let’s hope something bigger and better is waiting for this warrior of truth.  How is what is wrong and what is right not obvious to everyone?  Life is about choices.  Why do so few people have the moral clarity of Erin?  As she so eloquently stated:

Choose your “hard.”  I choose this “hard” every day of the week.  Because the “hard” of these terrorists continue to terrorize, not just Israel, not just Jews, but the rest of us, the west and their own people.  Without people stepping up to say “enough!” there will be a far worse “hard” world for my little girl to grow up in.  Yes, it hard, absolutely, yes, it’s impacted me in personal ways, in professional ways, in other ways.  But I choose my “hard.”  My “hard” is now because it means there will be less “hard” later on.

 Good on ya mate!