Taylor Swift might be an international icon, but in Israel she’s got competition – not in record sales but reverence. Most find their spotlight dims when Erin Molan gets mentioned in the Holy Land. Now fronting Elon Musk’s 69X Minutes news show, on the platform formerly known as Twitter, Erin arrived in Israel for the first time last December, knowing she had out-Swifted Swifty.
“A few people had told me and I said, ‘Gosh, that’s amazing.’ But when I got there, I thought, ‘Wait, I’m bigger,’” Erin laughs.“That’s a joke by the way.” Only it wasn’t a joke. Erin, 41, got a welcome befitting of a modern-day Boadicea as social media warrior defending a threatened people against the anti-Israel cultural tide.
This stance, held since October 7, has both elevated and disrupted her career, but the beautiful Australian journalist stands firm. “If you had told me 18 months ago that a terrorist attack would happen that saw 1,200 people slaughtered, hundreds more taken hostage, women and babies burnt alive – and that opposing the perpetrators would put you in the minority, make you controversial – I would’ve said, ‘Not a chance in hell.’ Not even in the most woke, ridiculous fantasy land could that happen …. Fast forward and here we are.”
Erin is never deflated, but her arms drop to her sides. “There’s no grey,” she sighs. “Supporting Israel is the most obvious thing in the world. How others don’t see it the way I do, I will never understand.”
The confusion – the head scratch – about Erin’s conviction is that she isn’t Jewish. So why, begs the inexplicable question, would she sign up with the team most likely to expose her to hate? “In terms of choices I’ve made in my life, there were none easier,” she clarifies.” It wasn’t even a choice. It’s a privilege to stand up for and with your people, and I’ll do it for the rest of my life.”
Sky Australia has never formally clarified why Erin left the network, which left everyone guessing and employees refuting suggestions of antisemitism. But does it really matter when, as Erin says: “People talk about how powerful my voice is in this space, because I’m not Jewish.”
That powerful voice is the reason Israel extended an invitation to visit, during which she met October 7 survivors, families of hostages and visited kibbutzim and the Nova festival site.
Erin Molan at the residence of President Herzog where he echoed her words
She also appeared on Channel 12 News with Dana Weiss, sharing her perspective on the conflict and joined President Isaac Herzog and his wife, Michal, at their residence. “It was really incredible,” she says with sincerity. “They had me sitting beside the President on what looked like a throne – but probably wasn’t. What really hit home for me was when the President started quoting me. Things I said about the three elements that are required for terrorism to not only survive, but to thrive. He was quoting me back to me. It was insane.”
Erin on Chanel guesting on Israeli news
A proud moment of many in Israel for Erin, where everyone wanted to thank her personally, which she found humbling, or to see if their cheerleader looked as good in person as she does on screen. No doubt about that. Erin frequently graces the pages of Australia’s magazines, often in designs by label Honey & Beau and, for our shoot at her Sydney home, she looked good enough for a close-up before make-up was applied.
Our cover theme – looking through a clear window – felt fitting for a woman offering a brave, resonant and alternative point of view. We hoped she’d wear a yellow hostage pin; photographer Giselle Haber even brought one. But it wasn’t needed as Erin has her own. She’s invited to countless Jewish events weekly and went to more in America in January, then to Canada in March. “But I had never been to a Shabbat dinner until five months ago. That was my first. And let me tell you that since then, well I don’t think I’ve got a Friday left for about 10 years.”
Brave,and resonant,Erin has an alternative point of view (portrait by Giselle Haber)
Separated from long-term partner Sean Ogilvy, a former police officer with whom she had daughter Eliza in 2022, the single mother’s stoicism is a legacy from her father, Major General Jim Molan. Also a senator for the Liberal party, he passed away in 2023 and Erin is still grieving. It was his work that took the family to Indonesia, where Erin, still a child, learnt the importance of democracy and press freedom when the Suharto regime fell in 1998. By then she was making homemade news bulletins to send back to the grandparents in Australia. “I’d be the anchor and made my little brother do the weather. That early love of storytelling never left me – it’s what led me to journalism in the first place.”
Erin with her late father, Jim Molan
Right now Erin is a voice for those who feel sidelined by officialdom, abandoned by the media and disillusioned by fading national pride. Reassuringly, she wears her patriotism like armour. “My father went to Iraq, fought against ISIS and Al-Qaeda to protect our way of life. He believed in it. I believe in it. So when I saw people celebrating the October 7 slaughter in front of the Sydney Opera House I felt deeply ashamed of my country. That was a very new emotion for me.”
It was always going to take serious emotional grit to weather the backlash of standing on the ‘wrong’ side of popular opinion. “It does, and it doesn’t. And that’s a confusing answer,” she says. “There’s always a part of me that will be deeply impacted by anyone thinking, let alone saying publicly, that I might not care about children suffering because they live somewhere specific, or are from a different place.
Erin signing autographs in Indonesia
“I lived in Indonesia, the world’s largest Islamic-populated country and I speak the language. I did so much for charity over there, so when people come at me for my views, I won’t lie – it hurts deeply. But I understand why and who I’m fighting for. That’s every child born in Gaza, in Indonesia, every child in every country in the Middle East – just as much as every child in Israel. I don’t apologise for that as I’m just smart enough to understand that the enemy of every child, whether they are Muslim or not, is the terrorists who continually make their life hell.”
Four months ago, Erin met with government officials in Indonesia and visited the Muslim women who helped raise her. “Try telling me I’m Islamophobic! I have a deep passion and love for these people. I fight for them. And they will tell you behind closed doors that Islamic extremism hurts them more than it hurts anyone else in the world. I just wish sometimes they’d say it more publicly and louder. People talk about my powerful voice, but Muslim voices are tenfold and those who stand up and say, ‘That is not who we are, that is not what our religion stands for’ – they are gold and we need more of them.”
Erin shares her opinions on her YouTube channel, Instagram page and on X, all of which contributed to her being as Elon’s anchor – not literally, of course, and there is no discussion about the 69X hire process. A cheeky question about whether he sent flowers was rebuffed, and the digital news show is too new for comment.
However, the X boss, who just sold President Donald Trump a car and is the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), can’t have failed to notice Erin’s work ethic. “I’ve fought for every bloody opportunity I’ve had, and never, ever took rejection as an end point. I used it to motivate me to work harder.”
In the 20 years Erin has been in media, she had never been sacked. “But I started last year with high profile jobs at Sky and the 2Day FM Breakfast Show and by the end of the year had neither. It was utterly terrifying. I had a day of panic, and thought, ‘Holy s**t, what am I going to do now?” It was a turning point for the woman who, in 2016, made Australian history as the first female sports host on The NRL Footy Show.
“So I said to myself, ‘I can do this without them.’ The fear of failure I’d lived with dissipated when I lost everything. I realised there’s nothing to fear anymore. And now everything I do is 100 percent me. I believe my superpower is the fact that I’m willing to do more than anyone else – and I love it. It’s my joy. I have no life. I’m a complete loser.”
No one believes that, particularly Israel, although support for the country has cost her friends. “And at first, I struggled with that – getting messages from people saying I disgust them now and some were a big part of my life. Then I thought, how close could we have been, if they side with terrorists? And they use the suffering of Gazan children to silence anyone who stands with Israel – as if the two things are mutually exclusive. The only way to help the people of Gaza is to fight for the end of Hamas. No one has a future there while they remain in power.”
Erin’s broader view on what allows terrorism to flourish is silence, fear and inaction and she is mystified by the inertia of those who say nothing or, worse, the ones who don’t agree and speak up. “If we don’t fight against this propaganda machine and this ideology that wants to destroy everything that is good in the world, then life will be devastating.”
Erin is relentless; a workaholic who knows competition on social media is fierce. To be the first, to have the most followers, takes serious graft, but she always finds the time to take her daughter to and from school. It’s a joyful ritual now affected by her belief in Israel.
“The cost has been real. My day-to-day existence has changed. My daughter’s life has changed. There are threats that we receive daily. Some of them are legitimate, and it is utterly terrifying.”
So Erin is cautious, always checking for the sake of Eliza, yet continues with her work because of the bigger threat. “Every day I think to myself: my number one job in the world is being a mum to my little girl and protecting her. Protecting the world she’ll grow up in. If we do nothing, then we’re handing over everything good to people who openly say they want to destroy it.”
Erin always knew picking a team was a risk. She did it anyway. “But I’ve also gained something priceless: the chance to speak up for what’s right. And I hope that, even in a small way, my voice is making a difference. What is deeply distressing to me is that what I do is special. It should not be special. Standing with Israel should be the norm – not something that makes me stand out.”
@erin_molan is the cover star for Life magazine out now
