British influencer-turned-Israel activist Oli London has just returned from a trip to the Holy Land, where he traveled across the country to learn about the reality on the ground.
During his trip, London visited the Kerem Shalom crossing to see aid arriving, and was briefed by the IDF. He was inside Beilinson Hospital when released hostage Agam Berger arrived for treatment. He spoke to first lady Michal Herzog about gender-based violence, toured houses destroyed by Hezbollah rockets and visited families in the Druze village of Madjal Shams.
All this was posted about and shared with his half a million X/Twitter followers, nearly 700,000 on Instagram and over a million on TikTok.
So what makes London, a former trans-rights activist and now Christian anti-woke campaigner, such an outspoken advocate for Israel?
“I used to be woke,” London told The Jerusalem Post. “I had sympathy for Palestine because I didn’t understand the situation, I never researched it, I was fed whatever the media told me.”
The October 7 massacre changed everything.
“October 7 was an awakening,” he said. London watched the live streams of Hamas committing atrocities in the Gaza border communities, and saw the murders of people and animals, the torture and the hostage-taking.
“I thought, why isn’t the whole world condemning this?”
Just a few weeks later, in December 2023, London became one of the first foreign influencers or activists to come to Israel and visit the razed kibbutzim and the Nova Music Festival site.
This current second trip, which he hopes is another in a line of many, was about seeing the situation one year on, something that was very important to him.
London also wanted to draw attention to the plight and suffering of the five recently released Thai hostages, who he said received no international media coverage.
“It was important to go there and be on the ground and amplify their voices,” the influencer said. The Thai hostages, London told the Post, did not fit the narrative needs of the anti-Israel crew.
For London, however, it is important that these smaller communities and minority Israeli voices receive equal attention. During his visit, he made sure to meet with various communities, including Jews, Arab Christians and Druze.
“I want to highlight how diverse and multicultural Israel is,” he said.
The pro-Palestinian activism wave
THE POST asked London why he thought the global narrative was swayed against the hostages and against Israel. Amid recent releases of starved and tortured Israelis, international media such as the BBC have sought to depict equivalency with Palestinian prisoners by referring to both as “hostages.”
Along with this is the huge wave of pro-Palestinian advocacy, especially in progressive and liberal spaces and in educational settings. Much of this has segued into antisemitism under the guise of anti-Israel campaigning.
“Pro-Palestine activism is not about Palestine, it’s just jumping on a trend,” London said. “Young people are brainwashed and indoctrinated and they just become hateful.”
There is a huge element of hypocrisy to this, he continued, as though the activists purport to care about human rights, but it is disproportionately aimed at the Jewish state.
“They just need a cause to be angry about,” he said. “But it’s not Yemen, its not Kurdish people, it’s not Nigerian Christians or Uyghur Muslims in China.
“It comes from a blind hatred of Israel. These people see Israel as this powerful oppressor, which plays into their own oppressor-victim mentality, whereby Israelis are white colonists, and Palestinians are the oppressed,” London explained.
“The activists want to be victims; they want to be oppressed. It’s a powerful Marxist ideology,” he said.
But he believes that the tide is changing.
“It is losing momentum,” London said. In the same way that the once-vociferous Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements died down, he feels that pro-Palestine activists will get bored.
He also has hope for US President Donald Trump’s second term, believing the leader will tackle antisemitism: “President Trump is going to lead with that – and whatever America does, the rest of the world will follow.”
So what is next for the de facto Israeli spokesperson?
“I want to come back and visit a lot,” he told the Post. “I can actually see myself living in Israel.” He would love to take on some sort of a role as a spokesperson, believing it’s vital for Israel to diversify the voices speaking out on its behalf. As a non-Jew with no specific skin in the game, he believes his voice holds sway.
“Antisemites hate that the Jewish people have an army and can defend themselves. For thousands of years, they have been attacked, killed, [and] displaced, and now, Jews can stand up for themselves – and they hate it.”
But London’s words make it clear it is not only the Jews standing up for themselves: there are non-Jewish voices that are just as loud and just as crucial in the fight against hate.