On February 10, Israel Bonds Western Region Women’s Division held a special evening via Zoom with Bari Weiss, American opinion writer and editor, and author of How to Fight Anti-Semitism, in conversation with Roz Rothstein, founder and CEO of StandWithUs. The theme of the event, ‘Anti-Semitism: Impact on the Next Generation and Does the Media Have Any Responsibility?,' engaged over 350 Israel Bonds supporters and investors from around the nation to participate and learn from the discussion, organized by Los Angeles Women’s Division Chair Laura Stein and Chair Emeritus Jean Friedman, along with Los Angeles Women’s Division advisory council members and Bonds’ Western Region office.



Speaking from the Knesset, MK Omer Yankelevich, Minister of Diaspora Affairs, addressed participants, underscoring the critical need to stand against anti-Semitism as a unified community, stating, “We are your partners in combating anti-Semitism.”  She went on to highlight the responsibility of Jews everywhere to support, uplift and protect one another, most especially in these unprecedented times, noting, “Israel Bonds is a crucial partner in this work, and has been a steadfast partner to the state of Israel, and we are here too to stand for the Jewish world.”

Prominent pro-Israel activist Roz Rothstein interviewed guest speaker Bari Weiss, whose former roles as an op-ed and book review editor at The Wall Street Journal and op-ed staff editor and culture and politics writer at The New York Times established a foundation for her to express her viewpoints on topics impacting and involving women’s rights, politics, and cross-cultural ideologies, particularly where Israel and Zionism came into focus. A native of Pittsburgh, Bari grew up Zionist and deeply committed to Israel, and had her Bat Mitzvah ceremony at the Tree of Life Synagogue, where on Oct 27, 2018, the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the U.S. occurred in a mass shooting with 11 lives lost, of which she and her family knew six of them. Highlighting the need for heightened awareness and an end to anti-Semitic attacks, Bari affirmed, “We are in a pivotal moment where we need to protect the Jews and all Americans,” adding, “It’s important to understand that anti-Semitism is a virus.”

When asked about ways to suppress the BDS movement throughout American college campuses, Bari remarked that “the majority of Jewish students feel stigmatized, and BDS is a scary thing that makes young Jews afraid.” Her words of advice to all on the call to share as a mantra, for all Jews facing criticism - “Be unabashedly proud of who you are. Stand up for the eternal values that made the Jewish people who they are in the first place.”