Jerusalem, 12 November, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- When Canadian-Slovakian model Miriam Mattova began posting in support of Israel after Hamas’ October 7 attacks, she lost many Instagram followers and one of her P.R. agencies dropped her, warning she was being “too political.”
“They told me to delete the hashtags and stay neutral,” the 33-year-old told The Press Service of Israel in Jerusalem during her first visit to Israel. “But my grandmother told me that during the Holocaust, everyone stayed quiet. I promised myself I would never be quiet.”
“My Instagram profile changed. I added the ‘bring them home’ hashtag and posted more about Judaism and what’s happening. I wanted to inform the world about Israel’s right to defend itself. I risked my career, and it paid off—I found an agency that shares my values.”
Her commitment brought her to southern Israel this month with the nonprofit Israel Friends, where she visited the site of the Nova Music Festival massacre. Miriam spent three hours there, crying as she walked among burned cars and memorial photos. But what moved her most wasn’t the devastation—it was the soldiers thanking her for coming.
