Watch the recording and view other resources from Jewish Women International and Fuente Latina, the Hadassah Foundation grantee organizations featured in this April 2, 2025 program.
The underrepresentation of women in journalism and news reporting influences the information that is shared, and ultimately, how history is recorded. Join us to learn about initiatives bringing women’s stories and experiences of the Israel-Hamas war to the forefront and the implications for international media. Video and other resources below:
- “On Land and Online: Conflict-related sexual violence and the social media battlefield” (Report published by JWI)
- Behind-the-scenes testimonials and other highlights from Fuente Latina’s docu-series “10/7: Testigos del Terror,” which is in Spanish with English subtitles.
- A newly produced piece (with English subtitles) from Fuente Latina Media Fellow Rosabri Mejia of Univision Boston: “News Report on Israeli Women Living in Conflict Zone.”
About the Speakers
Meredith Jacobs, CEO of Jewish Women International
Since assuming the role of CEO in 2020, Meredith has shepherded the development of numerous JWI initiatives, including the National Center on Domestic & Sexual Violence in the Jewish Community; the Collaborative of Jewish Domestic Violence Agencies; the Women’s Financial Empowerment Institute; ReStart: job readiness for survivors; the Jewish Communal Women’s Leadership Project; Men As Allies: Leading Equitable Workplaces; the Jewish Gun Violence Prevention Roundtable and the international expansion of Young Women’s Leadership Network. Under her leadership, JWI is spearheading state-wide advocacy efforts to achieve justice lending practices that would give survivors of financial abuse access to bank loans that would set them on the path to long-term economic security.
Meredith is an award-winning journalist and former editor-in-chief of Washington Jewish Week. She is the author of The Modern Jewish Mom’s Guide to Shabbat (HarperCollins) and co-author, with her daughter Sofie of the bestselling series of interactive journals, Just Between Us (Chronicle Books). Prior to joining JWI, she founded ModernJewishMom.com, the first Jewish parenting website (now part of Kveller), and was the host of the WYPR radio show, Connecting Family and The Jewish Channel television holiday specials, Modern Jewish Mom.
Named one of the “50 Most Influential Jews of 2020” by The Jerusalem Post, Meredith is a sought-after speaker, moderator and writer. Her opinion pieces appear frequently in outlets such as JTA, eJewishPhilanthropy, and the Forward. She is a member of the advisory board of the Women’s Business Collaborative (WBC) and serves on the Women’s Economic Empowerment Council for the State of Maryland — an advisory council to Brooke Lierman, Comptroller of Maryland. Meredith serves on the expert panel on Improving Access to Services for Domestic Abuse Victims in the Military, sponsored by the Department of Defense. She earned a B.A. in English from Haverford College and holds a Masters of Science in Business from Johns Hopkins University.
JWI works to empower women and girls – of every race, culture, ability, gender identity, and sexual orientation – by ensuring and protecting their safety, building access to long-term economic security, and lifting and mentoring women leaders.
Leah Soibel, Founder and CEO of Fuente Latina
Leah, a Hispanic American Israeli, has two decades of experience on the ground in Israel and elsewhere working with thousands of global Latino journalists and influencers, bringing millions of Spanish-speakers worldwide an accurate image of the Jewish people. In 2012, she founded Fuente Latina (FL), a US nonprofit and nonpartisan media organization ensuring that global non-Jewish Hispanic journalists have the facts they need – before and when stories break – to accurately cover Israel and the Jewish world in Spanish and in real time. She recently launched Activista Media, the first-ever bilingual (English/Spanish) digital news brand that engages the next generation of English-dominant US Latino journalists, influencers and online news consumers with stories aimed at breaking down stereotypes and increasing positive perceptions between millions of Latinos and Jews. Headquartered in Miami, with offices in Tel Aviv, Madrid, Los Angeles, and Mexico City, FL’s work has resulted in two TV Emmys wins and an Associated Press Broadcasting award.
Leah is a National Security Education Program Fellow with an Arabic language certificate from the American University of Cairo’s Arabic Language Institute. She has a BA in History and Judaic Studies from Dickinson College, an MA in Security Policy Studies from George Washington University, and has completed coursework for a doctorate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
A nonprofit and nonpartisan media organization, Fuente Latina engages and educates non-Jewish Hispanics worldwide about the Jewish world and Israel through mainstream Spanish-language legacy news (TV, radio, print) and digital/social media.
Hadassah Foundation educational events are made possible by the Bernice S. Tannenbaum Fund for Education. Learn about the fund and its namesake here.
Photo: Fuente Latina’s 2024 Media Fellow Adriana Calhoon, founder and director of Houston-based AC Media TV, reporting from Kibbutz Nir Oz.