Singer, dancer, and social media star Montana Tucker spoke with Arutz Sheva - Israel National News about the reasons behind her visit to Israel to raise awareness for the October 7th massacre.
"A year ago, I made a series called 'How to Never Forget' about the Holocaust," I've dedicated my life to fighting antisemitism and all forms of hate, and when I heard about the massacre, I knew that posting wasn't enough - I needed to be here, meet with survivors, families, as many people as possible, to hear and share their stories."
Fighting antisemitism, she says, isn't easy. "It's always a challenge. There is a separate bar for hatred of Jews and of Israel. It's so popular it's literally trending right now on social media platforms, and people like to go along with what's popular. That's why I know that I need to never stop posting about this."
The fight isn't without its rewards, though: "I've already made a change, even if it is not as big a change as I would like. People message me, thanking me for opening their eyes to humanizing the people they hear about. There are a lot of people who only ever hear one side of the story."
The most powerful part of her trip, she says, was the spirit of those she met: "The people I spoke to didn't have hate in their hearts. Despite everything they've gone through, they were still full of love and hope and were determined to keep going."
As someone who has made a project of raising awareness for the Holocaust, Montana says that she sees significant parallels between the stories of Nazi Germany and the October 7th massacre. "I grew up with my grandparents' stories. I watched all the movies. I went to Auschwitz. The stories I hear now are almost the same as the ones from back then. The propaganda is disturbingly similar. All the people who say 'it could never happen again' need to stop just brushing it off. This is why we can't stop talking about it and why we will never stop talking about it."
She intends to return to Israel soon and encourages others to come as well: "If everyone could see all the people living in peace there, and the opportunities you can have there no matter who you are, I think that people's minds would change a lot."
Israel, she claims, is the safest place for her despite the war: "The United States is a scary place right now to be wearing a Star of David. Here, everyone has these stars and these flags. Everyone is so proud. I get a lot of hate for it online, but the love that I get here in Israel from people coming up to me on the street and thanking me keeps me going. I have never felt more at home and safe than in Israel."
She says that she has needed to find ways to balance her advocacy work with her dance career: "I love dance, and singing, and acting, and making people happy. It's been difficult to do that and raise awareness. At the same time, it's our way of telling people, 'Look how resilient we are; we're not giving up on the things we love", but at the same time, this is all I can think about - I don't want to stop until the hostages are returned."
Montana shares one of the ways she found time for dance while she was in Israel: "I got to do a flash mob with one hundred dancers. We dedicated it to Mia Schem, who I recently got to meet." Mia Schem was held hostage by Hamas for 54 days, during which time she underwent surgery without anesthesia, performed by a veterinarian, to treat a bullet wound to her arm. "Another survivor of the festival, Noam, told me she loved to dance, so I got her to do the flash mob dance with me. It was beautiful."