The Israeli-American Council (IAC) today called out Oprah Winfrey after she posted comments on social media reacting to the antisemitic terror attack in Sydney but failing to mention Jews, Hanukkah, or antisemitism.
On Facebook, where she has 21 million followers, and Instagram, where she has 22 million followers, Winfrey posted: “I just spent the last 2 weeks in Australia, walking Bondi just days ago feeling the openness and ease that lives there. It’s hard to reconcile that sense of peace with the terror of last night. My heart breaks for the victims, their families and loved ones, and all you Aussies.”
“Oprah’s neglect to name the actual targets and victims of the attack - Jews celebrating Hanukkah - conceals both the true nature of this horrific event and the appalling surge in antisemitism that gave rise to it,” said Israeli-American Council (IAC) CEO Elan S. Carr, former U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism. “For a public figure to express sorrow over the attack without saying that it was an antisemitic mass murder of Jews during their celebration of a holiday is precisely the sort of misguided obfuscation that allows antisemitism to flourish.”
Carr invited Oprah to meet with him and the IAC leadership to engage in a dialogue about the scourge of antisemitism and the Jewish community’s concerns.
“I invite Oprah to meet with us and discuss the ongoing epidemic of antisemitism since Oct. 7, our response, and how she can use her enormous influence to make a difference in this fight,” Carr said. “All decent people must take a principled and forceful stand not only against all forms of hate, but against Jew-hatred specifically.”