A Jewish cyclist was told she couldn’t speak at an International Women’s Day event in Ontario because she served in the Israel Defense Forces decades ago.
Leah Goldstein, 55, is a professional cyclist born in Vancouver, Canada, to Israeli parents and raised in Israel.
Goldstein is known as the first woman to win the overall solo division of Race Across America in 2011.
The champion athlete was due to be the keynote speaker at the 2024 International Women’s Day event in Peterborough, but was not invited due to her service in the Israeli army three decades ago.
‘I was wounded. I was angry. But most of all, I was heartbroken,” Goldstein wrote on his website.
A Jewish cyclist was told she couldn’t speak at an International Women’s Day event in Ontario because she served in the Israel Defense Forces decades ago.
Leah Goldstein, 55, is a professional cyclist born in Vancouver, Canada, to Israeli parents and raised in Israel.
Like most young Israelis, Goldstein served his time in the IDF due to Israel’s conscription laws.
He also worked as a police officer upon his return to Canada in the late 1990s, when Israel Times reported.
Due to her time with the IDF, the organizers, the INSPIRE group, decided to disinvite the cyclist from the position she accepted five months ago to ensure the event was a “safe space.”
“Our focus at INSPIRE has been and always will be to create safe spaces to honor, share and celebrate the extraordinary stories of women and non-binary individuals,” the women’s empowerment group said in a statement.
“In recognition of the current situation and sensitivity of the conflict in the Middle East, the INSPIRE Board will change our keynote speaker.”
Goldstein revealed that she does not typically include politics in her speech at the event nor did she plan to include it.
She told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency: “I am not at all political when I speak.
‘Honestly, there is nothing political in my presentation. I’m just talking about the shit I went through and the shit most women go through, and still do, and how I handled it.’
According to event organizers, other speakers had been “attacked” by pro-Palestinian activists due to Goldstein’s role as keynote speaker.
The champion athlete (right) was due to be the keynote speaker at the 2024 International Women’s Day event in Peterborough, but was not invited due to her service in the Israeli army three decades ago.
Goldstein is known as the first woman to win the overall solo division of Race Across America in 2011.
“We are equally upset,” said INSPIRE founder Heather Doughty.
“We’re just a small nonprofit that’s trying to do something good, and we were literally attacked. We had speakers [from INSPIRE] verbally attacked. “They went shopping and people came up and attacked them.”
Goldstein’s critics allegedly “demanded to know where Leah stood” on the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Israeli cyclist said INSPIRE asked her to make a statement, which she said was “ridiculous.”
“If I had to make a statement, I would say that I am very proud of my training with the IDF, being the first woman to train the commando’s soldiers,” she said.
“So yeah, if you want that kind of statement, I’d be happy to say it.” But to despise Israel and say it’s genocide, that we’re killing 20,000 innocent children and women and all that, it’s a fucking war. That is what happens.’
‘I didn’t want to go down that path because that’s not what I do. They didn’t hire me because I was an IDF soldier. They hired me because I inspire. I reason.
“They are making this political when it shouldn’t be. My presentation is not about war. It’s about life.’
Goldstein revealed that since the conflict in the Middle East began he has noticed a slight decrease in the number of conferences he has been able to book.
Now that Goldstein has been removed, a Canadian hockey player will take over as keynote speaker.
“This has been very traumatic for me,” Doughty said. “I just wanted to organize a really nice event for women in this area, but it turned into something I don’t even understand.”