Israeli actress and activist Noa Tishby led a moderated panel during Convocation Oct. 22 with Noam Ben David and Moran Stella Yanai, who are survivors from Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Tishby, who is known for leading a national tour entitled, “Voices of October,” first took to the stage to describe her passion for educating and informing students about combating antisemitism. She then transitioned the discussion to focus on the personal accounts of Yanai and Ben David, since they were both present at the Nova Music Festival in Israel when a barrage of missiles lit up the sky and Hamas militants initiated a violent massacre.
Tishby kickstarted her tour in March 2025 by speaking at five college campuses around the nation so far with the goal of helping students understand the facts of what happened on Black Saturday. She began this tour in tandem with her nonprofit, Eighteen, which is meant to further her goal of stopping the spread of antisemitism.
In an interview following Convocation, Tishby said it is vital for students to hear from Oct. 7 attack survivors.
“Israel is such a central place for the world, that you really should not form an opinion about it without having all the facts and without knowing what it is that you are talking about,” Tishby said. “So it’s been very important for me to speak at college campuses and speak to communities all over the world, on my own and with Noam and Moran.”
She said she feels blessed to be able to travel alongside Ben David and Yanai and share their stories with students. However, she does not take this tour lightly since they are both survivors who have had to recover from the mental and physical trauma.
Tishby said she crossed paths with Ben David a month after the Oct. 7 attack in Israel at a rehabilitation center. She said Ben David was in a wheelchair due to the injuries she sustained after being shot in the hip by Hamas gunmen. Ben David had attended the festival with her boyfriend, David Newman, and she told Tishby how difficult it had been after he was killed during the massacre.
“She shared the day with me and we cried together and hugged and went through that whole kind of process together,” Tishby said. “And we stayed in touch, and she told me at the time that while she was still in the wheelchair, she said, ‘we will dance again,’ and I was floored by that.”
A few months later, Tishby invited Ben David to a large party in Tel Aviv, Israel, to dance on stage again. Tishby said that time on stage became a defining moment for their friendship.
When Tishby was back at her home in Los Angeles, she met Yanai, who shared her story of how she was taken hostage by Hamas after trying to sell her jewelry as a vendor at the Nova festival. She said she always tries to be mindful of how painful it is for Ben David and Yanai to recount their experiences.
Tishby said she first heard about the Oct. 7 attack while she was having dinner with a friend in Los Angeles, where it was still Oct. 6. She said her sister, who was in Israel at the time, suddenly FaceTimed her as her family had just run into the bomb shelter after a barrage of rockets were fired at Israel.
Tishby said roughly 10 minutes after learning of the attack, she grabbed her phone and began broadcasting to the world through social media to update people. She said she was one of the first to talk about the attacks in Israel since legacy media outlets were not discussing it.
“I think that nothing can move forward in the Middle East if Hamas is allowed to maintain control over the Palestinian people. Palestinian lives deserve better than a jihadi terrorist organization that is willing to sacrifice them, because that’s what they did on Oct. 7,” Tishby said.
Tishby advised any student who wants to jump into activism to learn how to research and seek credible information.
“I think that one of the most important things that you can do in life, in general, but especially in this line of work, is know your facts — and know history. If you can have your facts and … you can train yourself to not get fazed or triggered, then you got almost the entire thing,” Tishby said.
Tishby said pro-Hamas movements like to use false hyperbolic information in order to get a rise out of people. She said if students can refute this information, then they will be stronger activists, rooted in the truth.
“The biggest obstacle that we’re dealing with right now is social media and online agents spreading intentional misinformation in order to divide America,” Tishby said. “ … Israel (is) patient zero in a worldwide war on truth. And we are just an example of what can happen if we’re not on the same page, in terms of history and facts. So, we used to debate opinions, now we’re debating reality.”
Davis is the editor-in-chief.