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![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/S1G11h900gZg_0_0_3000_2000_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Alona")
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Alona Ben Natan <\/p>\n
(Photo: Courtesy)<\/p>\n
When Alona Ben Natan explains what a Baja race is, she does so with the calm, methodical precision of someone who has crossed enough deserts to understand that the difficulty of the sport is less about machines and more about consciousness. Off-road rallying, she says, is about tracing a line between points designated by the organizer, navigating at high speed while maintaining an almost meditative focus. \u201cIt\u2019s like to find the way and also to be focused on your way and speed and everything together,\u201d she told The Media Line. What sounds simple on paper becomes something closer to a psychological trial when the terrain shifts, the heat rises, and visibility collapses into dust.<\/p>\n
Her descriptions of racing often expand into reflections on coexistence. The team she rides with is a study in political contradiction, yet on the track, these differences become almost invisible. \u201cWe are all human,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen we race together, we forget about politics.\u201d She describes moments in which riders from countries without diplomatic relations with Israel help her fix a bike, share water, or offer advice. She added a deeper reflection about this dynamic: \u201cMost of the time I feel that people genuinely want to connect, just like I feel with teammates from other countries on my team, and that it\u2019s the governments who are fighting, not the people.\u201d For her, these small collaborations in the desert reveal a human logic that feels increasingly rare elsewhere.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n 4 View gallery <\/p>\n Alona Ben Natan <\/p>\n (Photo: Courtesy)<\/p>\n That sense of shared purpose contrasts with the weight of being a pioneer. Ben Natan is the first Israeli woman to compete in major rallies in Morocco and Dubai, and the visibility that accompanies it is both empowering and exhausting. She began off-road riding only six years ago, almost by accident. \u201cIf they can do it, why can\u2019t I?\u201d she remembered thinking. She rose quickly through domestic races in Israel, then short European rallies, then the international circuit. With that growth came a predictable kind of noise. \u201cPeople were criticizing: this is not a sport for a woman, or she\u2019s not that good, or how did she get all these sponsors?\u201d she said. \u201cMost of the time it\u2019s the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n She resists turning these comments into drama; instead, she frames them as the static anyone hears when breaking into a space that was not built for them. What matters more to her are the messages she receives from young girls and their parents who follow her races and want to meet her. Ben Natan\u2019s 10-year-old son describes her proudly at school and listens to her stories about navigating Morocco or crossing hot valleys in the Middle East. \u201cI feel like an ambassador,\u201d she said, not with self-importance but with the sober awareness that visibility can turn into guidance for others. Recently, she became the first Israeli member of the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) Women\u2019s Committee, where she hopes to encourage more women and girls to enter a sport traditionally dominated by men.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4 View gallery <\/p>\n Alona Ben Natan <\/p>\n (Photo: Courtesy)<\/p>\n The psychological dimension of her journey deepened after Oct. 7. She was racing in Portugal that day, far from home but connected to events in Israel through the first fragments of video and the shock that followed. \u201cI was in complete shock,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was very hard for me being there when my family is here and I don\u2019t really know what\u2019s going on.\u201d She finished third in the race, but canceled Dubai that year. \u201cWe were all upset,\u201d she said. \u201cI have friends who died on the 7th of October. You don\u2019t really feel comfortable to go to another country when you know that your friends are fighting and dying every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Her social media presence also shifted. She lost followers, received harsh messages, and even heard from other athletes who sent anti-Israel comments. She refused to respond. \u201cI come to every race as an athlete, very neutral,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t enter provocations.\u201d Yet neutrality does not erase the emotional impact. When she helped a Kuwaiti athlete during a race, pulling her out of a deep hole in the terrain, she later received a long anti-Israel message from the same rider. \u201cIt was very upsetting,\u201d she said. \u201cReally, are you entering politics into this sport as well?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Alona](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/rJU002500gbl_0_0_3000_2000_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Alona")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Alona](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/B1uqhq00gbx_0_0_2000_3000_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Alona")
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![\"Alona](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/H1006n5OeZl_0_0_2000_3000_0_x-large.jpg\" "\\"Alona")
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