Noa Tishby

Noa Tishby moved to Los Angeles seeking an acting and singing career. Instead, she has become a dominant and provocative voice on a war being fought in the Middle East and also on television, social media, and American streets and college campuses. Ms. Tishby’s 2021 book, “Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth,” hit the New York Times paperback best-seller list for the first time in October 2023 and recently rose to No. 4. Tishby says she was fired by the Israeli government after criticizing the Netanyahu administration. Tishby was born in Tel Aviv and raised in a politically active, progressive family. She served in the Israel Defense Forces, in what might be thought of as the Israeli U.S.O. While still in the army, she was cast in a television drama which became a national sensation. She moved to Los Angeles about 20 years ago but was frustrated by the difficulties of building an acting and singing career in Hollywood. She developed a robust side-hustle as an activist. Tishby became Israel’s first official representative in the fight against antisemitism, appointed by Yair Lapid, who was then Israel’s foreign minister. But Tishby’s official job was short-lived. Early this year, after the Netanyahu administration announced plans to weaken the power of the judiciary, she criticized the proposal in speeches and writing.