Law & Order actress on anti-Semitism: 'It’s wild how things are getting'
Diane Neal's great grandparents escaped the Holocaust, now she's escaping antisemitism in the United States
American TV Star, known for her role in Law & Order, Diane Neal immigrated to Israel this week, and spoke to i24News in an exclusive about the reasoning behind the move. She started with a childhood of “one side and the other side,” from her Mormon father and Jewish mother.
Her father converted to Mormonism, and she went to the Mormon-sponsored Brigham Young University. Then, on her first visit to Israel during college, she was “in heaven the entire time” and vowed “I always wanted to come back.”
When asked why now, she responded, “I came to get away from antisemitism,” and continued, “it’s wild how things are getting and you think it’s never going to happen.”
She recalled a deathbed moment with her grandmother, “she said ‘don’t give your kids Jewish names’ and I thought that was crazy,” and stated, “I thought that time has passed.” Now, she’s in Israel to escape the unprecedented rise of antisemitism in the United States. She’s not alone, nearly 90% of American Jews think antisemitism is a problem.
After announcing her move, there was a lot of backlash against the planned move to Israel, particularly on social media. But, she said “I’m really grateful that I have a place to go, I have a much deeper appreciation of everything that our ancestors went through and I’m just really happy to be here.”
And now that she’s here, she wants to give back and show her appreciation through participating in government, “somewhere that I could help, somewhere I could make a difference, somewhere I could just let everyone know how much I appreciate this country.”