Julia Haart speaking on Israel’s ILTV news program. Photo: Screenshot
Julia Haart, a fashion designer and author who stars in the Netflix show My Unorthodox Life, told Israeli media on Thursday that she is frustrated that some feminists and supporters of the LGBTQ+ community refuse to condemn the Hamas terrorist organization that perpetrated the Oct. 7 deadly massacre in southern Israel.
Haart, who is also the co-owner of the international fashion talent management Elite World Group, is in Israel with some of her children touring the country and the Gaza Strip to learn firsthand about the Hamas atrocities that took place in October. She traveled with troops from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to Gaza and filmed footage of civilian homes that housed weapons used to attack Israel, such as grenades, bombs, and rocket launchers. She also met with families of those taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7 and spoke with an Arab Muslim commander in the IDF who denounced the actions of Hamas.
During an interview with Israel’s ILTV Israel News on Thursday, Haart said she was baffled that feminist organizations have not spoken out against the atrocities that women faced on Oct. 7 at the hands of the Hamas terrorists, such as sexual molestation and rape. Israeli actress Gal Gadot previously slammed the international community for staying silent about the sexual abuse women experienced, and there were calls to disband United Nations Women — the UN agency for gender equality and women’s empowerment – for not immediately condemning the sexual violence.
“I’m so sick of hearing the word ‘but.’ ‘Oh yes it’s bad to rape women — but.’ It’s bad to take away their rights — but.’ There is no but,” Haart said. “How can you consider yourself a liberal, a feminist, when you’re only applying those ideals to everyone but Jewish women?”
Haart then noted that she has spoken across Israel to Muslims, transgender people, members of the Druze community, and individuals who attend an LGBTQ+ vocational and training college called Marsha.
“They all said to me, ‘We don’t understand what’s happening in the world. Don’t they get Hamas will kill all of us?’ If you support Hamas, you’re supporting the murder of LGBTQ+ people,” Haart explained. “You’re supporting [a terrorist group] that says women can’t travel without a husband’s permission, women get married off as teenagers and children and have lots of babies. These women have no autonomy in their life, no self-determination. How can you be a liberal and support a terrorist, murderous, monstrous organization that will kill the very people who are supporting it? I don’t understand it.”
Haart’s journey of leaving the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community is explained in My Unorthodox Life. She has four children, who include a non-religious bisexual app creator and a Shabbat-observant Instagram influencer and TikToker. The show’s second season premiered on Netflix in Dec. 2022.
The entrepreneur told ILTV that she hopes to continue using her fame and public platform to support Israel and help the world learn the truth about the Jewish state during its ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “I needed to come here; I needed to show my physical support,” she said. “I needed to let people know that this country is a bastion of democracy and freedom, and that I will stand behind it with every ounce of strength in my body.”
“I believe in destiny and fate, and I think perhaps all the fame that we acquired may be for this particular reason,” she added. “Maybe the reason my Netflix show was successful, maybe the reason I had to become a public figure, was so the day that the Jewish people were in danger, I could utilize my voice, and my children could do the same, to help klal Israel [the nation of Israel]. To be sitting on my couch yelling would not have the same effect.”
