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Noa Tishby sheds light: “Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth”

October 2023: A Note from Hope Katz Gibbs, publisher, Inkandescent Women magazine — When I published the Fall 2023 issue of Inkandescent Women featuring female activists, I had no idea that a war would break out in the Middle East on Oct. 7. As a woman proud of my Jewish heritage, it is not the politics of this disaster that I am focused on. It is the devastation of the lives caught in the crossfire.

Early news reports explained: “Israel is reeling from an attack carried about by Hamas that has left more than 900 Israelis dead and more than 100 captured.”

In the week since more horrifying events have erupted:

  • Israeli troops, including “infantry and armored forces,” carried out local raids in the Gaza Strip to eliminate the terror threat and try to locate hostages, the Israel Defense Forces said Friday.
  • Israel has maintained its bombardment of Gaza in response to Hamas’ attacks that killed more than 1,300 people on October 7. It also has amassed more than 300,000 reservists along its southern border ahead of a potential ground incursion.
  • Gaza’s humanitarian crisis is deepening with warnings people are at risk of starvation. According to the Palestinian health ministry, nearly 1,800 people have been killed in Gaza. The airstrikes have also displaced 423,000 people, the UN said.
  • US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Tel Aviv pledged full US support to Israel, stressing, “This is no time for neutrality, or for false equivalence or for excuses for the inexcusable.”

As people around the world struggle to understand the impact of the war, in this issue of the magazine I shine our Inkandescent spotlight on Noa Tishby. An Israeli actress, writer, producer, and activist, who’s production company, Noa’s Arc, produces adaptations of Israeli programs to American networks.

In 2021, she published her first book, Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth.

About the book: Israel. The small strip of arid land is 5,700 miles away but remains a hot-button issue and a thorny topic of debate. But while everyone seems to have a strong opinion about Israel, how many people actually know the facts? Here to fill in the information gap is Israeli American Noa Tishby. Offering a fresh, 360-degree view, Tishby brings her straight-shooting, engaging, and slightly irreverent voice to the subject, creating an accessible and dynamic portrait of a tiny country of outsized relevance. Through bite-sized chunks of history and deeply personal stories, Tishby chronicles her homeland’s evolution, beginning in Biblical times and moving forward to cover everything from WWI to Israel’s creation to the real disputes dividing the country today.

Perhaps having insight and perspective will help us all understand Israel a bit more. Here’s how to help humanitarian efforts in Israel and Gaza. In peace, Hope