
“She was the definition of sunshine,” Miri Kornfeld told me about Olga Meshoe Washington, an extraordinary, young Christian Zionist and friend of Israel and the Jewish people, whose passing last week devastated friends and loved ones worldwide. Kornfeld, who serves as Colorado Director for the nonprofit StandWithUs, was among many who are still in shock over the sudden loss of one of their true friends and one of greatest allies of our time.
Meshoe Washington was headed home from a visit with family in South Africa when she fell ill during a layover in New Jersey. She was rushed to the ICU, where doctors attempted to treat her for complications from lupus, a life-threatening autoimmune disease, in addition to pneumonia and other respiratory issues. The wife and mother of two young boys, ages four and six, passed away on Jan 6.
Alongside her loving husband, Joshua Washington, her father, Reverend Dr. Kenneth Meshoe, her late mother, Lydia (who passed away in 2023), her mother-in-law, Valerie Washington, and her father-in-law, Pastor Dumisani Washington, founder and CEO of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel (IBSI), Meshoe Washington never hesitated to defend the Jewish people and the Jewish state. In a recent Israel-Africa newsletter, her father-in-law wrote that Meshoe Washington often described herself as a “Daughter of Africa,” adding that “Olga was also African royalty, literally a princess of the Tswana tribe.”
I did not know Olga, but as I read various tributes to her on social media, I felt compelled to learn more about her and to share words of love and remembrance about this remarkable woman with our readers. I asked several pro-Israel leaders who worked with Olga to share some words of heartfelt tribute to Meshoe Washington.
“A Soul Sister”
“Everyone needs a soul sister. I am blessed to have had Olga Meshoe Washington as one of mine. I met her with her dear parents Reverend Kenneth and the late Lydia Meshoe at a United Israel Appeal dinner in Johannesburg. Attracted to her energy, I introduced myself and we became friends, an Australian Iraqi Jewish mother immigrant of four boys figuring out her belonging, and a high-powered lawyer, Zionist, and social rights activist nursing her hurt heart.
We were the same age, we both dreamed of writing books, of changing the world. We both handed our lives and wounds to God. We blessed each other’s lives over cappuccinos. When I moved to Israel, I became Olga’s home in Jerusalem during her visits. We grew together. I grew into my writing and voice, she grew into finding Joshua, moving to America, and becoming a wife and mother of two beautiful boys, Ezra and Judah.
We shared our wisdom. She strengthened me as a woman with a voice, and I strengthened hers as a mother and immigrant. We strengthened each other’s faith. I don’t know what to do without my soul sister to message and check in with.
But I know she is still here; it is God’s will and her heart beats in her beautiful boys. Olga is only lost if we stop spreading her deep voice of truth, female wisdom and faith. God was her powerful driving force, and she expected that to be the driving force of God’s people too. Keep her light alive. Live like she lived with deep joy, faith, introspection and majesty.”
-Sarah Sassoon
Iraqi Jewish author, poet and educator
“Iron, Draped in Elegance”
“When Olga entered the room, there was a sense of a royal presence. Her dignity, her beauty, her brilliance, her grace, and her ability to choose words to go from her heart directly into another’s heart were just a few of her outstanding attributes. In a world that has become increasingly divisive, she devoted her life to uniting Israel and Africa and Jews and Christians because she loved Africa and Israel and found her strong faith dependent upon Christianity’s Jewish roots. She was the recipient of many well-deserved honors, including the Jerusalem Medal for her incredible work for Israel and the Jewish people.
We and the entire Jewish community have suffered an indescribable loss. She and her family stood side by side with us when we felt abandoned by other less stalwart friends. She could not be intimidated from speaking out loudly and clearly about her conviction that Israel is the eternal homeland of the Jewish people and that the Christian mandate is to stand with Israel. She courageously linked her heritage and destiny to ours and in that became a cherished member of our family. Olga was iron, draped in elegance.
Our hearts go out to her two sons, four and six, her adoring husband Joshua, her father Reverend Kenneth Meshoe, her father-in-law Pastor Dumisani Washington and her mother-in-law Valerie Washington.”
-Peggy Shapiro
Director of Policy and Outreach, StandWithUs
An Invaluable Teacher
“Olga and I worked together as advocates for Israel and teaching teens to be proud and know the story of Israel. From Olga, I have learned invaluable life lessons. Some of which are to speak but only when you have something of value to say, walk into the room with confidence even if you don’t feel it, and know that each one of us has a purpose in life. You have value even when others do not see it.”
-Dr. Naya Lekht
Educator and Research Fellow on contemporary antisemitism, The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP)
Extraordinary Dignity
“I met Olga about a decade ago, while she and Joshua were still dating. Her extraordinary dignity and grace were immediately apparent. When I started White Rose Magazine, we talked about how to use the magazine to help women remove themselves from the Instaporn cages they’ve been put in. But I knew that the best way to do that was through Olga herself: she epitomized the feminist notion that strength, elegance, and femininity are not mutually exclusive. I asked her to write the Foreword for my book The Elegant Soul, and I was planning on writing a cover story about her for Vogue. Perhaps I still will.”
-Karen Lehrman Bloch
Editor-in-Chief, White Rose Magazine
“I was utterly shocked and pained recently to hear of the sudden passing of Olga Meshoe- Washington. I knew her and was aware of her extensive Israel advocacy work at IBSI (Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel) over the years through my friendship with her husband, Joshua, and father-in-law Pastor Dumisani Washington. The pro-Israel community and the Jewish people worldwide have indeed lost a true friend and perhaps one of the most effective non-Jewish voices reaching millions of young people who were combating the lie that Israel was an ‘apartheid’ state.
Olga, who was born in South Africa and had family who experienced the horrors of apartheid there firsthand, had the courage and special speaking ability to publicly push back against the apartheid slander made against Israel. As a proud Christian Zionist, she never stopped her advocacy for Israel in the African American community and in South Africa, two areas where the haters of Israel have had the most impact on increasing Jew hatred and Israel hatred.
Many times, in recent years, I utilized Olga’s impactful PragerU video about how Israel was in no way similar to South Africa during apartheid when pushing back against Iranian non-Jews that I came across who made the false apartheid accusations against Israel. Her video and her clear explanations always effectively shut down these Iranian haters of Jews and Israel.
Nowadays the Jewish people do not have many very vocal, courageous and genuine gentile friends in this world who have stood with us in our darkest hours of persecution and fought back against the hate we have encountered. Olga Meshoe Washington was one of those special Christian friends the Jewish people had in this world who never once hesitated to raise her voice and fight shoulder to shoulder with us against Jew hatred everywhere. My prayers are with her family during this painful time and may her life’s work on behalf of Zion continue to inspire other Christians to also stand with Israel.”
– Karmel Melamed
Iranian American Jewish journalist and attorney based in Los Angeles
On X, Meshoe Washington’s husband, Joshua, wrote that she “always talked about the day when she would finally hear the applause of Heaven for the life she lived. That day is today.”
To help the Washington family during this devastating time, please visit gofund.me/acd34c94
Tabby Refael is an award-winning writer, speaker and weekly columnist for The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Follow her on X and Instagram @TabbyRefael