As Jewish students continue to feel the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on campus, Israeli activist Noa Tishby’s nonprofit media company, Eighteen, is bringing survivors of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror attacks to campuses across the country in a six-stop tour — dubbed “Voices of October 7th.”

With featured speakers including Moran Stella Yanai, a former Israeli hostage who was released during the first ceasefire in November 2023, and Noam Ben David, a Nova Festival survivor, the tour aims to provide education about Oct. 7 and the ongoing impacts of the war, through the lens of those who experienced it most directly. Most of the events are being hosted by the local university Hillel.

The tour also serves as a launch event for Eighteen, the nonprofit that Tishby, formerly Israel’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, started last year to “combat antisemitism, defend Israel, and inspire Jewish pride,” according to a press release. Eighteen has already been behind a number of content creation projects, including during Hanukkah in December, when Tishby lit candles alongside celebrity friends, including Gwyneth Paltrow, reaching a combined following of over 161 million social media users over the holiday in what the Jewish Journal said was likely the most-viewed menorah lighting of all time.

This tour is an opportunity to align the activism with the organization, said Tishby. 

“We’ve already launched. This is the first time we’re talking about it, because we’re so busy doing the work,” she said. 

Among many reactions to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks, was a rise in the relevance of “Jinstagram” — or Jewish Instagram — at least for legacy Jewish organizations. Jinstagram has existed for a number of years, growing rapidly in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, alongside many other facets of online activism. It’s a one-stop shop where Jewish influencers, or those aspiring to be, react in real time to global events affecting the community, “combat antisemitism,” and attempt to appeal to younger Jewish audiences. As antisemitic content permeates social media, Jinstagram’s rising stars have become a mainstay of Jewish communal institutions, with the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federations of North America leveraging their platforms at conferences and galas in an attempt to build connections with the younger generation on social media by association.  

Tishby, a leading figure in the Jewish social media sphere in terms of both following and reach, has operated in the space for years. With Eighteen, she wants to be the bridge between the younger generation of Jews and more time-tested Jewish institutions. With data and knowledge of social media algorithms, Tishby and her team can act nimbly and quickly, she said, responding to events before even the first wave of press releases land in Jewish journalists’ inboxes.  

“We are the speedboat to the legacy organization’s oil tankers. The world today needs quick reactions, quick responses, thinking on your feet, and working sound bites,” Tishby told eJP. “For a certain age and below, there is no such thing as social media. It’s just media. For funders and organizations, that’s a very important distinction that needs to be made. It’s not this external thing. It’s the only thing that matters for our young generation.”

With Voices of October 7th, Tishby and her team want to provide Jewish college students the opportunity to connect directly with survivors, to imbue a sense of connection and Jewish pride. Specifically, each event will feature a moderated discussion, allowing the audience to engage directly with survivors.

“Survivors of October 7 are being introduced mostly to funders and donors at fundraising events. They’ll talk to the people that already have the money and are already engaged in the community, and they’re obviously older because that’s the crowd that is coming to those events,” said Tishby.  

“We wanted to make it real in the same way that when you talk to a Holocaust survivor, it becomes real for you. We all know that college campuses are the frontline of this kind of narrative war that we’re fighting,” she continued.

Combatting antisemitism, a stated goal of many of those on Jinstagram, requires breaking out of echo chambers to reach those who might hold antisemitic viewpoints or who might be susceptible to them. According to Danielle Ames, who does strategy for Eighteen, the level of engagement Eighteen’s content achieves is clear indication that it is reaching beyond the Jewish world.

“We know it’s millions and millions of people, and we know, therefore, we have to be getting out of the echo chamber because we know that there’s only a certain amount of Jews in the world,” said Ames. “Often we see ideas, messaging frameworks for understanding the Middle East that Noa has either shared in her books, in op eds, in podcasts at live events, on social, in media interviews, etc, get picked up by others, whether they’re organizations, individuals, journalists, public, people, and we’re also tracking that.”

Following its launch at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan on Sunday, the tour is on its fifth stop —  at University of Michigan on Wednesday night, and wrapping on Thursday at University of Texas, Austin. Though several stops on the tour sold out within hours, Tishby anticipates that the majority of attendees will be Jewish.  

“It’s marketed towards non-Jews too. Honestly, sadly, from what I’ve seen in the past, a lot of these events end up being predominantly Jewish,” said Tishby.