Israel Needs This Fighter in Knesset
Not a lot of Members of Knesset find themselves inspiring New York Post covers barely a month after entering office. But this past July, under the banner, “Hypotwits,” that paper featured the questioning of MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh of a Twitter executive the previous day about tweets from Iranian leaders against the Jewish state: “Let me make sure I understand. Calling for genocide on Twitter is ok, but commenting on political situations in certain countries is not ok?”
But Colter-Wunsh, who was raised in Montreal, and brings a practical, Anglo sensibility to her work, has made it clear that she did not enter politics to pass the time, or for her own glory.
In just half a year in office, holding social media giants’ feet to the fire for their treatment of antisemites is just one of many concrete examples of how Colter-Wunsh has used her platform to advance the interests of Israel’s security, the rights of women and general fairness.
The daughter of an aide to Prime Minister Begin, Cotler-Wunsh has already introduced 11 pieces of legislation on topics ranging from taxation to healthcare, to the rule of law.
She is the founder of a global inter-parliamentary forum with bipartisan elected officials in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK, dedicated to working together to combat online antisemitism.
And she has been an articulate advocate for olim, for lone soldiers and b’not sherut, for the underprivileged, and for other Israelis who have often felt voiceless in the political arena. She has also been a creative advocate of the promise that the Abraham Accords hold for Israel and the region.
Her combination of drive, determination, and decency has won her friends across the political spectrum.
MK Cotler-Wunsh is just getting started. Given her track record in such a brief period in Knesset, all the while in the midst of the corona crisis, imagine what she can accomplish over the next several years, absent corona, with more experience, more relationships, and, one hopes, a more stable political environment!
It should be obvious to several political parties what an asset Cotler-Wunsh is and putting her in a position to continue her work would seem to be a savvy political move for one of them to make.
And the State of Israel will be the better for it.
