Melanie Shiraz is the current Miss Israel and one of the most prominent Jewish voices on the global stage today. Raised between Israel and the Diaspora, she brings rare insight into both Israeli and Jewish life abroad, as well as the widening gaps between those experiences. A former Jewish student leader at UC Berkeley, she has witnessed modern antisemitism firsthand across elite institutions, international media, and online platforms. In 2025, she became one of the most globally scrutinized Jewish public figures, targeted by coordinated disinformation and harassment campaigns both in news coverage and on social media, giving her direct insight into how antisemitism operates in the digital age. She pursued Miss Israel with the explicit intention of advocating for the Jewish people and representing Israel with clarity, strength, and responsibility at a moment of rising global hostility. Her writing draws on lived experience at the intersection of public visibility, technology, and Jewish leadership, with a focus on antisemitism, disinformation, identity, and the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora.
