Mourning Olga Meshoe Washington: An Irreplaceable Zionist Heroine
Mourning one among the nations’ most righteous
It is with the deepest pain and regret that we mourn the untimely passing of Olga Meshoe Washington, who left us in the early hours of January 6 at the age of 43. She leaves behind her beloved husband and our dear friend Joshua Washington, their two sons, Ezra and Judah, and her father-in-law, our friend Pastor Dumisani Washington.
Olga, a native of South Africa, was one of the most extraordinary champions that Jews and Israel have ever been blessed to have. She was in a class of her own in the field of advocacy for Christian-Jewish friendship; and, had she lived, would have been one of the future’s most dynamic leaders.
Her Prager University video destroying the claim that Israel was an apartheid nation has been viewed more than 1.4 million times. She, who knew apartheid first-hand, was the best and most incisive of witnesses.
Her poise, obsidian-sharp mind, and soulful eloquence as a speaker conquered hearts across the planet.
Olga’s advocacy for Israel earned her the 2016 Jerusalem Award from the World Zionist Organization and The Jerusalem Post named her first among 2023’s top 25 “Young ViZIONaries.” Her magnificent essay, “The Israel-Apartheid Lie and the Appropriation of South Africa’s History,” was published alongside chapters by Alan Dershowitz, Dan Diker, Natan Sharansky, and Daniel Gordis as part of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs’ Israelophobia and the West collection in 2020. She was also profiled in Ari Mittelman’s 2022 book Paths of the Righteous: Stories of Heroism, Humanity, and Hope. That same year, she gave a spellbinding speech in Geneva beside UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer, damning the United Nations for its racism and anti-Semitism.
Olga’s father-in-law, Dumisani, is the well-known and beloved black American pastor whose life mission is defending Jews and Israel. Dumisani created IBSI, the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel. His son, Olga’s husband Josh, is the executive director. The entire Washington family works day and night to promote the interests of American Jews and of the Jewish state. They counter the anti-Semitism in the black community. They bring American black clergy to Israel to see the truths that our foes obscure and deny. Dumisani’s books, lectures, and podcasts are major weapons in our people’s arsenal.
Almost exactly a year ago, the Washington family officially joined our African Jewish Alliance and Olga became one of our most riveting speakers.
Last June, we gathered together with many Africans living in America, whose people are tormented by jihad, for a conference in Washington, D.C., during which we spoke to a number of congressional staffers. Olga’s was among the most powerful of the speeches delivered.
Olga was an angel — a warrior angel. Her faith would not let her flag in her long march beside the Jewish people and their state.
Olga chose to be interred not in the U.S. — not even in South Africa, where she was born — but in Israel, the land where her unquenchably Jewish soul so obviously belonged.
She was buried on Wednesday, January 22, at the Tel Regev Cemetery near Haifa, surrounded by a family of Africans and Israelis, and lowered to her eternal rest by Charedi funerary attendants.
Officials of the Israeli government, faced with so many urgent concerns, so admired Olga that they took the time to approve the funeral. Israel’s President Herzog even recorded a message of condolence.
We can confirm that Olga is the only non-Jew in Israeli history ever to have been afforded such funerary honors.
Though its end came far too soon, her life is a blessing to all of the world’s righteous, but especially to her family and to the Jewish people she defended with such passion and luminance.
Her husband Joshua is in indescribable pain. His stories about his wife can be found on his Instagram account. You can also watch a remembrance Zoom ceremony here.
You can pay your respects by contacting the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel directly (info@ibsi-now.org), or by writing to olgamemorialservice@gmail.com.
You can help Josh and his two children by donating to the Genesis 12:3 Foundation, which is collecting money to recoup the burial costs, or a GoFundMe campaign that StandWithUs set up for the benefit of the family.
We will never forget Olga, our warrior angel, whose sword guarded us on earth, and will forever from above.
Charles Jacobs
Ben Poser
