Anti-Israel rhetoric is nothing new – fueled by misinformation, antisemitism, war and a world far too comfortable assigning blame. But Bellamy Bellucci is the last person you would expect to be one of its fiercest counter-voices.
South African by birth, black, trans, and Jewish by choice. She is a professional model, a former ballerina, and an unflinching advocate for Zionism. With a bold social media presence and a sharper voice – she is also anything but a cookie cutter narrative.
Her identity alone is a living contradiction to everything Israel’s loudest critics try to frame as truth. “It baffles people, the salad that I am, but it’s also exactly who we are as a tribe and who Israel is,” she says.
A childhood of contrasts
Speaking from her New York apartment, Bellucci recounts her childhood and her quest for identity. Born in 1990 in South Africa’s North West province, she moved between vastly different worlds – growing up in Alexandra, a poverty-stricken township synonymous with Apartheid trauma before shifting just across the highway to the affluent suburb of Sandton.
At age seven, she was sent to boarding school – some 90 km away from either world. It was there she found classical ballet which became both an escape and her salvation from a turbulent home life. “I needed an anchor – and ballet was it,” she recalls.
Dance became her language of freedom, and, unexpectedly, her gateway to Jewish spaces. Visiting the homes of fellow Jewish ballerinas, something clicked. “I was in this strange vortex and yet it just made sense,” she says. This environment for her sparked questions – many that her Methodist Church upbringing failed to answer. “Just because you say something doesn’t make it a reality,” she remembers thinking. Since then a spiritual thread began to pull at her, a “natural progression” that would ultimately lead her to convert to Judaism years later.
A Spiritual Return, Not a Leap
Her Masorti or Conservative Judaism conversion was not spontaneous – it was a long evolution. One that took place in the United States where she moved in 2008 after winning a scholarship to train at the Washington School of Ballet. Today she is a naturalized US citizen.
Although she describes her conversion as a homecoming rather than a sudden switch, she doesn’t mask the years of difficult soul searching she faced. “Honestly, everything else was easy. Even becoming trans but coming back to my Judaism – that was the hardest,” she says.
She sees the journey as a nod from her late paternal grandmother, who raised her and only ever asked that she “know God.” Her first and highly emotional visit to the Kotel sealed her conviction as did the taunt of why she’d want to be “part of the most hated people on earth.
“I think I’ve done the groundwork and ticked enough boxes in my life of being hated and not falling into line. So this one must be right for me too,” she reflects. Still, pushback comes – even from within Jewish circles, where some Orthodox sectors dismiss her conversion. “We are a dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless,” Bellucci argues.
Not your usual advocate
Scroll through her Instagram or TikTok and you’ll find a juxtaposition between glam and grit. A polished modeling headshot is followed by a resolute political video. Essentially Hasbara in heels and a brilliant bridge of two worlds rarely seen in unison.
With over 21,000 followers on Instagram and more than 80,000 on TikTok, Bellucci uses her platforms to dismantle lies against Israel and the Jewish people. In one viral reel, she claps back at campus protesters calling Israel a ‘genocidal state’: “I don’t care that they come from Ivy League schools, I come from the school of life and I’m walking, breathing proof that their scripts are broken.”
Her content is as varied as it is engaging – ranging from Torah thoughts to personal reflections on Jewish identity to tough love, often wrapped in humor and always delivered with conviction. She’s unapologetically herself and pro-Israel – a combination that attracts and repels in equal measure.
“I’m the perfect poster child in the Black and trans communities,” she says. “Until they learn that I’m a Jew – and it quickly moves from love bombing to loathing.” The more hate she receives, the more focused she becomes. “I choose people who live authentically,” she says. “I’m not interested in anything else.”
October 7 changed her game
That friction only deepened after October 7. She was in Los Angeles, out to dinner with a fellow South African dancer, when the alerts started. Something inside her shifted. “That was the day the old me died,” she says. “I stopped being soft. The only empathy I have now is for our people. Everyone else comes after.”
Since that day, Bellucci has doubled down – online and off. She’s been pulled into private conversations with CEOs, Jewish federations, and disconnected youth. She’s speaking in spaces that matter. “I believe the best way to get things across is always in smaller rooms. It’s the silent work behind closed doors that is most impactful.”
Her activism isn’t reactive. It’s lived and it’s personal. “I’m not Noa Tishby or Lizzy Savetsky,” she states. “I know the branding is different but our tribe is very diverse…this is my lane and it’s one they can’t walk in.” Her style is unfiltered and at times uncomfortable but as she challenges – that’s the very point.
Best-Kept Hasbara Secret? Not for Long
Today, she juggles modeling with public speaking as she rapidly becomes a sought-after Zionist voice. Her next big move? Aliyah. She’s already started the paperwork and has long dreamed of living in Israel. The passion is deeply rooted – “It was always the plan,” she says.
Bellucci is also working on a documentary titled Finding Home – a personal, visual journey that unpacks her identity and advocacy in even greater depth. A teaser is already online, hinting at a story too layered for any one interview to contain.
No other Israeli outlet has profiled Bellucci. That changes here. She is building something powerful: a movement, a mirror, a megaphone. Breaking every mold and defending every truth – one post and one room at a time. “If you choose to live in truth – nice to meet you,” she says. “If not? I’m out.”
Israel’s fiercest defenders don’t always wear uniforms. Some wear heels, quote Torah, and fight fire with truth. Bellamy Bellucci might just be the state’s most powerful secret weapon-in-waiting and she is locked in, loaded, and ready to lead.
