Ami Daniel: 

‍

I have people, right now, locked in with terrorists around them. 

‍

Izhar Shay: 

‍

We faced the most evil, atrocious set of activities that a person could think of. 

‍

Stefan Tompson: 

‍

This is not a fight for just Israel. This is not a fight for the Jewish people. This is a fight for all of us. 

‍

Marc Rowan: 

‍

I think one of the things we should do is make sure there’s a cost for being an anti-semite. 

‍

Sam Lessin: 

‍

And then after 10/7 I was like, “Oh my God, I'm wrong. Harvard is off the rails.” 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

I’ll tell you, when I came to visit you at the Shiva, it was one of the hardest hugs I’ve had in a long time. Can you tell us about Danielle, your daughter? 

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

She’s an amazing person. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg:

‍

It's now been one year since all of our lives changed on October 7th, 2023. A Shabbat and holiday morning that, to paraphrase others before me, was a day that will live not just in infamy, but in deep pain for the people of Israel, for the state of Israel, for the families of those who lost loved ones. A year later, we might forget that on that day, women were raped, children were burned alive in ovens, families were destroyed.

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There are still 101 hostages held captive by Hamas terrorists in Gaza. We've lost tens of hostages, who were murdered by that brutal regime inside of Gaza, held in dungeons, suffering in untellable conditions under the ground of Gaza. And I think back also, over the last 20 years, as the world has poured millions and billions of dollars, tens of billions of dollars into Gaza, as UN agencies operated in Gaza, concrete was delivered to these people, pipes for water, and what were they used for?

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For missiles. For building dungeons to hold the hostages and sex slaves. That's what happened in Gaza. That's what Hamas prepared 20 years for. That's what UNRWA supervised. Would you believe that we'd be sitting here on October 7th, 2024, knowing both at the same time that members, teachers in UNRWA, were terrorists and butchers?

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And at the same time, that same agency asks for their immunity. Think of the countless of lives that were destroyed on that day. This has been intensely personal. You've heard me say before that I've had numerous sons serving on the front. We lost two cousins. Everybody has friends who have lost children due to the brutality of Hamas, due to the brutality of terror organizations that the world decided to countenance for way too long.

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That's what the last year has been like in Israel. One year in, you may have forgotten those original images. If you didn't see the 47-minute film prepared by the IDF and the Prime Minister's office, a large part of which I did see, you may not still hear the screams of the people. You may not be able to see the head being chopped off by a hoe-wielding terrorist of Hamas.

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The glee with which they shot up homes, babies and tore families apart one from the other. There have been heroic moments since then. The saving of Noa Argamani was a moment of heroism. But Noa should never have been taken on that motorcycle. She should never have had to spend time in Gaza. That's a trauma she and many others will carry with them.

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And I think it's also important to come back to the sexual violence that happened on that day. The rape of women that we thought had been banished from our lives for already hundreds of years as a tool of war, something that no modern person should have to think about. But it returned. Sheryl Sandberg documented this in her film.

‍

The screams of the women, the screams of silence, who were raped multiple times by Hamas barbarians. We cannot forget this. The one year anniversary must remind us all of the horrors that happened on that day. The day that the most depraved people on this planet were jubilant. The day that not only did terror rear its ugly head, but struck fear in the eyes of many.

‍

Not only a day in which terrorists destroyed families, but a day in which people on college campuses rejoiced. And a day later, when the Hezbollah terrorists launched missiles on Israel. This was a coordinated attack at the heart of humanity, at the heart of Western civilization and attack into the hearts of civilized people.

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Throughout this year in Israel, we've recorded people affected by and who were effective on October 7th. We've heard a lot of very human stories. Stories of tragedy and stories of resilience. And it's those stories we want to bring to you today. But not before we remember that there's still almost 150,000 Israelis displaced from their homes by Hamas terrorists in the south, and Hezbollah terrorists in the north.

‍

There have been hundreds of soldiers killed. As I mentioned, two of my cousins were killed as well in battle. But these kids are heroes. They are unique Israeli heroes. As I've written before, this is the defining generation, the generation whose brains were not turned to mishmash by TikTok, the generation that was not confused by Instagram.

‍

They didn't just flick forward. They turned the page on history, by turning up and being counted. One year after the horrific October 7th, we'll take stock on the pain. We'll look at some of the really touching, heartfelt and heart-rending moments that we've experienced in our own podcast here. We will also salute this young generation, this very resilient population of the State of Israel that has showed the way for the West forward, that has showed the world that you can stand up for freedom. You can stand up for morality. You can stand up and be counted. You will see how they turned up in spades since October 7th, the people behind that innovation who lost loved ones and the people who came to save people they didn't even know.

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We want to recount some of these inspiring stories and some of the lessons for the entire Western civilization and the civilization of civilized people. I think the other lesson you can take on October 7th, 2024 is the following: evil can be defeated. We fight depravity with optimism, and we fight those who ravaged us with resilience. Innovation, optimism and resilience will win the day.

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Israel will come out on top, and ultimately, with enough moral clarity, the West can win this fight against evil. So please come along on the journey back in time for one year and forward to a much better future. 

‍

Ami Daniel is the CEO and co-founder of Windward. We want to start by talking about October 7th.

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[00:06:54] Ami Daniel: 

‍

Yeah, like I live northeast of Tel Aviv. I just see it in the TV, I see it in the computer. I go up to my study where I am right now and I say, “Listen, we gotta do something.” And then I just start calling people, basically. I call you Michael, but it's Shabbat, so it took me a few hours to get a hold of you. I call some other people, and my brother-in-law is very active in Brothers and Sisters in Arms, which is a new civic movement which was built in the last 10 months.

‍

So I called him up and said, “Listen, did you see what happened down south? We need, we got to help them.” His name is Tamir. And he says, “Listen, let me check that and come back to you.” He's checking with them. They didn't really know what to do. He calls me back, says, “Listen, I can't do anything to help.” So I said, I say, “Okay, so I'll do it alone. No problem.” And I started messaging in a lot of WhatsApp groups. :Does anybody need help?” And I did this instinctively without any plan, obviously.

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And then people started coming back to me. And the first guy actually is Erez Shachar, which you know very well. 

‍

Michael (04:56.575)

Yup, he’s a venture capitalist.

‍

Ami Daniel

‍

He's a venture capitalist from Qumra Capital, who we, together, went to meet some people, some internal Israeli things in the last 10 months. And he calls me back and says, “Ami, my lawyer is right now in a car, with a gun, going down south, trying to rescue his daughter.”

‍

Ami Daniel (05:17.195)

And I was like, “Excuse me, can you please repeat that for me?” He says, “Yes, my lawyer is in the car with a gun, trying to rescue his daughter, but can you call him and help?” I called this guy. I've never met him. I don't know who the guy is. I said, “Listen, hey, what's your name?” He says, “Yaron,” I say “Can I help?” He says, “Yes, my daughter was in the party. It was a big party called Nova -” 

‍

Michael (05:37.794)

The Nova Peace Festival.

‍

Ami Daniel (05:46.815)

‍

The peace festival. It's about 1500 or 1300 young people celebrating peace. A few kilometers from the Gaza Strip, I think four or five kilometers. And she says, “Listen, she got away from that. They were massacred there. And she's hiding right now in some open area. I'll give you her number.” And then I WhatsApp her. And I said, “Yuli, your dad told me to help. How can I help?” And she writes me back, like in a second. “Listen, my boyfriend and his friend, they tried to save us and they got shot. We're surrounded with bodies. We're just outside in this open area, and we need help, can you help me? Here's my location.” She sends me her WhatsApp location. 

‍

And my instinct to respond to her was, “I'm on it, don't worry, we'll fix it.” Why did I say that? I have no idea, because I had no backing to say that, obviously. But I just say, “On it,” you know, “I'll get you out of there.” I turn to my wife and say, “Listen, what do you think we should do?” She says, “Listen, do you remember the guy who, when we were in London a couple of years ago, he studied with us? He's a general in the army. How about you call him?” Okay. I was his mentor, Michael. I think you put me together with him to mentor him in some internal course for the army a few months ago. So I know him, I know his wife, I know his son, right? I call him and I say “Moran, listen, I have these people, they're just outside, we need to help them. What can I do?” He says, listen, I'm on vacation in London, I can't help. But here's the phone number of the Operations Officer down south. Call him, tell him I told you, I told him to help you.” I said, “Okay, please message him.” 

‍

I called the guy and I said, “Listen, you don't know me, my name is Ami, but I have people right now locked in with terrorists around them. Give me somebody to work with.” And then from that sentence onwards, for the next whatever, three days or so, but specifically that Saturday, I made maybe 50 calls, maybe 100 calls to this guy.

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And I got, and this guy gives me, now, a guy who is around the lady’s, the young lady’s location to get her out. So in one hand, I’m on WhatsApp with her, and she's telling me - it was five or six hours with her, right, it's not a minute, this starts at eight AM, it finishes at one, two PM - and she says, “Listen, they're outside, there are terrorists outside, they're trying to kill us, they're shooting people,” and so forth. And he got me together with these forces on the ground and we managed to get her out. 

‍

Ami Daniel (08:12.207)

And then we did it again. And again. And then in Be’eri, and then - Be’eri was a big city down south, I think the biggest one, right? So about 1,400 residents, really close to the fence. And Be’eri was really a massacre over there. So suddenly these people started phoning to me. And my brother-in-law calls me and says, “Listen, you know what? I'll help. I don't care.” And he starts sending these messages in Brothers and Sisters in Arms WhatsApp groups, which is, again, hundreds of thousands of people around the country.

‍

And I do the same, in the Entrepreneurs WhatsApp group, in the whatever, Tech Leaders for Democracy WhatsApp group. And people start spreading the word. So people started coming back to him, and coming back to me, and coming back to some friends, and coming back to my wife, and then suddenly, I'm overflowing with hundreds of people right now under fire. And they're telling me, “Listen, here's my location. Nobody's helping me. Can you please get the army here?”

‍

Michael (09:10.578)

All on WhatsApp, all being coordinated with both the people who are under attack and the army on WhatsApp.

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Ami Daniel (09:15.911)

It's all on WhatsApp, and I think Saturday I focused on Be’eri, because this is, I think, one of the hardest areas and I'm just one person. My wife and kids are at home, right? So I focus on Be’eri, and I get to the first forces that break into Be’eri, and I end up with a guy, with the commander who's called Daniel Luria, who's right now coming from the fence around. So the terrorists were at the gate, the barbarians were at the gate, actually, maybe, shooting everybody coming in. So he goes around the fence, and this guy just, you know, they just gave me his number. And I said, “Listen, I got your number. Can you go down south to Be’eri?” And he says, “I'm on my way. Give me 15 minutes.” And nobody else is telling him what to do. Right? He's like a colonel in the army. He has 25 or 30 people with him.

‍

Michael (10:11.29)

‍

We should also say at this point that some week plus later, you discovered that Luria, this guy, actually got in his car from the northern border of Israel, from Betzet, and went south to save - loaded, put on his uniform, put his gun on, and went all the way south to do that. And then two and a half or three hours later, which first of all tells you how small a country Israel is, is now at the fence in the southwest of Israel in Be’eri, talking to you on the phone. And you're kind of...

‍

Ami Daniel (10:22.09)

Yes.

‍

Michael (10:39.426)

directing him to get people. But you only discovered this, that he came from the north, like a week plus later.

‍

Ami Daniel (10:44.567)

I didn't know. He just sends me a WhatsApp message. ‘I'm on my way, 15 minutes.’ And then when he comes in, I started working with him. Now, it's important to understand that these cities don’t south don't have street names. So as opposed to New York City, where it's just like, you know, “I'm on sixth and 25th,” or whatever, you can't really... Like, if you don't live there, there is no name. And this is quite difficult to...

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Michael (11:07.094)

Right. All towns and villages with little roads.

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Ami Daniel (11:10.203)

Yeah, it's like little roads and the houses, people know the houses according to the family name and the number. But if you go to Google Maps, it doesn't appear there. So I think it's a big issue, because I end up working with three or four different ground forces in Be’eri - every one of them in a different area of Be’eri - for like 14 or 15 hours, and they don't know the place. And they have no maps. And really they don't know, really, that each other are working there. And I'm getting these locations from people. And I think at that time, I think what's crazy is there are terrorists in the houses. It's not that this is done and the army is like - there's three to five terrorists in every house. Oftentimes, and I've spoken to many, many families that I’ve helped, they're in their shelter locked. The dad is pushing the door handle so people don't open it.

‍

The terrorists are setting the house on fire because they can't open it, because the dad is like this for 14 hours, and the door is becoming hot. And the terrorists are either putting it on fire or not putting it on fire, and waiting outside the door, ambushing the forces coming in. So at that time, what I end up telling the forces is not just, “There are people in this house,” - because they don't know where the people are, because many of them were kidnapped - but also where the terrorists are. To the extent that right now, “Listen,” they send me WhatsApp pictures from the ground, and send me a live location, and I send them back maps with drawings that I do on my iPhone of where the terrorists are. 

‍

And I try to just have them understand in which windows are the terrorists, and where did they miss them. And a few families were - we had one family, the Mor family, where the dad has ALS and he just, he's in a wheelchair. So we had to tell the two kids to jump through the bathroom window, while the forces go in and blow up the door. And we knew there were two terrorists hiding from them, one in the stairs and one in the second floor. And it's very surreal, because I'm just a CEO of a tech company, right? I don't usually work with ground forces to tell them where the terrorists are. So that was Saturday, and I think Saturday finished, I think, at 2.30 a.m., there were dozens of families like that. And it really...

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Michael (13:29.29)

Yeah, you know, I just….Sorry, go ahead.

‍

Ami Daniel (13:33.157)

I thought it was over Saturday evening, but apparently it wasn't.

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Michael (13:37.066)

Yeah. So just to kind of cover off on something that's incredible - so you and I were at a bris, a circumcision, a brit-milah, for the son of someone who used to work for us at, at Aleph. I actually officiated at their wedding as you know, and their family is also from Be’eri. And we were both - so this child was born in the same hospital that the grandmother who was wounded in the evacuation of the people from Be’eri was, where she was being treated. The baby was born a few floors underneath her. And then the grandmother passed away just hours before the circumcision and the Brit Mila. And we were both there at this bris, at this circumcision.

‍

And I got to see actually, her family here, her husband's family from Be’eri, come over to you. They thought that you were in the South, in Be’eri, when you were directing them out of the room. By the way, this is, you know, one degree of separation in Israel where, you know, Avigail, who is the mother of the child - you and I were on the phone, and these people who you helped save now turn up at the bris on the day that the grandmother unfortunately perishes from this awful massacre. 

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Ami Daniel (15:00.671)

Yes.

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Michael (15:06.526)

And they didn't realize that you were in the center of the country doing this by WhatsApp. They thought you were directing ground forces in Be’eri. What did you feel when you, kind of, met these people?

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Ami Daniel (15:15.987)

Yeah, first of all, they're the first people I actually meet. I got many phone calls afterwards, and pictures, and stuff like that, but they're the first people I actually meet. So Avigail's husband actually reached out to me sometime on Saturday I think. He says - or I reached out to him, I think, I got his phone number from somebody - he says, “I know your family is down in Be’eri, how can I help?” And he had actually all of his family down in Be’eri,, I think, about 10 people. And they worked with three different forces to get him out, and actually her husband was very resourceful because, it's because of them.

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Michael (15:37.623)

Yeah.

‍

Ami Daniel (15:44.819)

‍

He was really, he sent me maps, and he worked with me for like seven, eight hours. So kudos to him because that's really, I think - I don't think people thought of it as the meaning of family, but that's some of the meaning of family. You don't give up on your family, right? So what I felt is - they hugged, the wife hugged me and she said, “Listen, is it because of you that we're alive? You saved us. They would not have found us.” And I think, you know, I'm not sure I thought of being in that situation, but I think it makes you just grateful for the opportunity you had to help. Because we talk about investing with an impact, and improving the world and technology, but we maybe forgot the Maslow pyramid, right? First thing: stay alive. Then you can eat, then you can have WiFi and all that good stuff, right, and what we can't do without. But I think that's really out of this world. We spent a lot of time together, and...

‍

Michael (16:30.527)

Yeah.

‍

Ami Daniel (16:42.407)

and I think it was really amazing to see people that you managed to get out of there. And by the way, many of them wrote me, like, “Thank you Soldier Ami for getting me out.” Why they called me ‘Soldier Ami’, I don’t - because they told me, “You spoke to us like the commander of Delta Force. You told us what to do.” And by the way, I think, equally, the mental support is equally important. I had a family in Kfar Aza with four kids, and then the wife, it was really tough. Because she's with four kids, for 30 hours. 30 hours in a closed, like, small room. They're out of air. They don't have water, they don't have food. 30 hours, four young kids. She's telling me, “Ami, I need to go out. The kids are thirsty, you know? They need food.” And I tell her, don't go out, okay? I'm with you.” She tells me, “We're all gonna die.” I told her, “Listen, you can tell me that. Don't tell the kids that, okay? You have me. We'll be together, and we'll figure it out together.”

‍

And it's always the darkest before sunrise. So I think equally is just getting the army there and so forth, but equally is just being with these people that they don't break. I think it's super important.

‍

Michael (17:50.858)

Yeah. And what I want to do here today is also, then, take a step back.

‍

Michael (18:03.658)

You were in the Israeli Navy, I don't know how many years ago it is now, 18, 20 years ago, and your ship was hit by Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy. You want to tell us about that?

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Ami Daniel (18:18.039)

Yeah, July 14th, 2006, 8.42 p.m. As you can notice, there are a few dates I remember very well. Dates and times. I'm a Naval Officer, a lieutenant, just off Lebanon, on a corvette called ‘Ines Hanit,’ which means ‘spear’ in Hebrew. We're doing a naval blockade, and the ship gets hit by a Hezbollah missile, C802. Actually, it's a very special story because it's the only time - it was Friday evening - it was the only time we did the Kabbalat Shabbat at sea, like a big one. So, clearly they planned to fire the missile Friday evening, but we were very lucky, because of the Kabbalat Shabbat, dinner was postponed, obviously. 

‍

So, that means that when the missile hit, there were only three or four people at the back of the vessel. Most of us were in the, it's called the ‘officer's mess,’ doing the blessing on the challah bread for Shabbat.

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Michael (19:18.045)

That’s the blessing on the bread for Shabbat.

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Ami Daniel (19:19.847)

Yeah, and that saved a lot of people. And then the missile hit. We were obviously surprised. It's a very big missile, 8.5 meters, 120 kilograms of explosives. Four people died. 12 were wounded. It took eight and a half hours to take out the fire. We were towed away from Lebanon. I was a tactical officer on board, so I was in the Command Information Center all along, talking to everybody and doing whatever I need to do.

‍

But to some extent, actually, Saturday, October 7th, I responded that way because I responded instinctively because of that event. Because I felt under fire on Saturday, October 7th. Again. So I responded exactly like I was trained, which is, ‘go manage, just go figure it out. Get everybody together,’ because that wasn't what I used to do in the Navy. And I think it really changed me, that experience, obviously.

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Michael (20:15.506)

Yeah, I want to, by the way, there's a famous biblical expression where the vintner of Pharaoh says, “My sin I recall today.” So Ami, who's been to my house with his wife and kids and other people for Shabbat - so the siren went off in Jerusalem two hours after it went off in Tel Aviv. The first missiles were fired by Hamas to Jerusalem two hours later. So only at like 8:20, 8:30 in the morning did we know something was up. And I have a son who's in the army, and his phone started ringing, “Get ready to come.” And my second, another son, who's in reserve duty, turned on his phone - because we don't keep our phones on Shabbat - and they said, “You gotta come to the army.” And after another 10 minutes I said, “I better turn on my phone. Something's going on.” I turned it on and there’s a message from Ami that says, “Call me as soon as you can.” And I hesitated.

‍

I'm saying, “It’s Shabbat. I never talk on the phone. I never turn on my phone. Why is Ami looking for me? He's one of my CEOs, like, what's going on?” And then I said ‘No, he knows that I wouldn't do that.’ So I pick up the phone and call you. I said, “What's up?” You said, “What took you so long? I wouldn't call you for a Shabbat. I know you keep Shabbat. There's an emergency. We got to go find people down south who can rescue people.” And we start connecting, and I'll never forgive myself for that hesitation. And so I want to thank you for having the right instincts and I've learned from it. That 10 or 15 minute hesitation until I actually called you, staring at my phone, like what the hell is going on, I won't forgive myself for, and, uh, so thank you for being…

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Ami Daniel (21:52.272)

It could have been 10 hours, you know, 10-15 minutes is not that bad.

—----------------------

‍

[00:17:30] Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

What you just heard from Ami is the story of Israeli instincts and Israeli resilience. In the 21st century, as democracies are crumbling and leadership is hard to find, the societies that are going to be successful are those that show civilian resilience, where civilians actually take control and take responsibility. 

‍

Ami is a shining example of that. It was not only his instincts, but his activity, his persistence, his insistence to go the distance over 48 hours to save people that saved tens of people's lives. That's what I want you to take away. We have an incredibly resilient, innovative society that knows how to take responsibility, not just in the face of tragedy, but also when opportunity knocks and people need to be called on to stand up. 

‍

Ami didn't stop there. It wasn't just the first 24 or 48 hours. He and a series of Israeli entrepreneurs, resilient Israeli entrepreneurs, people who take responsibility, decided to develop something called Kvar Baim, which means we're on our way. We'll get there. This was a civilian build of technology that was then integrated into the military, into the police to enable them to be better first responders to trouble that might arise going forward. The story is incredible. Please listen with me. 

‍

Ami Daniel (28:37.151)

‍

Sure, first of all, I thought it's only Saturday. And then Sunday morning I wake up, I see it's not ending, and there's still more people. My wife tells me, “What are you going to do? I said, “We gotta help them.” So I call up my VPs - my VP product, Amir, and my CFO, Ofer, and my VP business services, Ariel - I tell them, can you just show up? They just show up, like 15 minutes afterwards. And then I write in an entrepreneur group, I said, “Can people come help?” And suddenly by 10 a.m., there are 15 or 20 people in our house. And I end up like, people reach out to me and then I give them, “you talk to this part of the army, you talk to that.” And then we understand, my wife tells me, I mean, “This is too much. We can't keep on doing this on WhatsApp. Let's build a product.” I said, “Well, good idea, sorry.” I was like heads down. I called Eden, your partner in ALeph, and I said, “Can you come and help?” 15 minutes afterwards, he's in the doorstep. And we start working with Eden and figure out how we can make this a product. Now I think, you mentioned no degrees of separation - I actually think the layer of founders, CEOs, COOs in Israel of growth companies is extremely tight. I can mention Nir Zohar from Wix who is amazing - obviously you invested in the early days of Wix - I think you introduced me to Nir, and Micha Kaufman, co-founder and CEO of Fiverr is amazing. Eynat Gez from Papaya, and Guy Bloch from Bringg, like I mentioned, and Gigi Levy who is a big investor in this country. But the investors and top founder CEOs are very tight. So I reach out to them and say, “Listen, guys, we need help. Can you help?” And suddenly, I think we have a team of, by Monday morning, 15 or 20 people productizing an idea that says, if Israel is attacked and the fight is on our ground, not on the enemy's ground, and people message you on WhatsApp, how do you collapse the time at scale to help them? And do that in hundreds or thousands of cases? 

‍

So we think of a concept called ‘Kvar Baim’, which in Hebrew is, ‘we'll be right there.’ It's, by the way, intentionally in Hebrew, so everybody feels comfortable in this country, because Hebrew is, you know, obviously our mother-tongue. And we start working on it. And so by Monday evening, there are about 20 people working on this product. By Tuesday morning, it's on the website of the biggest news website called ynet.co.il in Israel, for people to reach out and get help. 

‍

And I think by now, it is a fully-fledged product that people can reach out and get help, whether it's for evacuation, or whether it's for more things under fire. And it's fully integrated with monday.com and other products, API products, but it's a fully integrated product for rescuing people under fire.

‍

[00:21:36] Matan Bar: I am a proud Israeli. And so as a proud Israeli, I have like 50 percent more motivation before October 7th, of course after October 7th, because I want Israel to be successful. 

‍

—--------------------------

‍

[00:21:48] Michael Eisenberg: When I talked about Ami Daniel, I talked about the resilience of Israeli society, of Israeli entrepreneurs, the take-charge attitude, this idea that I'm going to make something good and meaningful out of this.

‍

I'm not certain there's a better example of this than my dear friend, Izhar Shay. I backed Izhar Shay's first startup 20-something years ago. I was fortunate enough to sit on his board. His son Yaron was killed on October 7th by Hamas terrorists. He was killed because he stood up. He was killed because he defended the kibbutz that he was stationed at.

‍

He was killed because he was a man of valor. He was killed because he is a uniquely Israeli and global hero. Right now, please listen with me as Izhar talks about his son Yaron. 

‍

—------------- 

‍

I'm a venture capitalist. I was the Minister of Science and Technology for the Israeli government.

‍

And in the context of our discussion today, I was, for 21 years, the very proud father of Yaron Oree Shay, our youngest son. Yaron has three siblings - my daughter, who is 33-years-old, Shir; my son, Lior, at 30-years-old, and Ophir, who is 26. Yaron was our youngest. He was a soldier within a special unit of the Nahal Brigade.

‍

They were stationed at the border for a few weeks before October 7th. Their mission at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel was actually to keep the peace between the two sides of the fence, to let people go about their agricultural business and other businesses on both sides of the fence. On October 7th, they were there from the first launch of rockets and missiles against Israel.

‍

Their unit responded as they should have, because this was their mission - when peace turns into war, when the ceasefire is broken by the other side, what the IDF is supposed to do is to respond and to protect the civilians. This is what Yaron's unit did on the southern side of the Gaza Strip border. They were stationed in an area called Kerem Shalom.

‍

Ironically enough, Kerem Shalom means ‘the peace vineyards’. This is the name of the kibbutz and also the name of the army base, which is adjacent to that kibbutz. This is what Yaron's unit was assigned to in terms of their responsibility. And they responded immediately. They were attacked in that area by hundreds of highly trained, very well equipped Hamas terrorists, whose mission was to move into the kibbutz and the torture and murder of innocent civilians, babies, young women, families, whomever they would be able to get hold of, as they did in many other places in that region. But in this case, the unit stood against them and was able to maintain both lines in the army base and in the kibbutz. The end result is significant tolls for the unit itself.

‍

The commander of the unit was killed in action. His deputy commander was also killed, a number of other officers and soldiers, including our son, Yaron, when they were facing, basically, a higher number of terrorists, but they maintained the line. No one was affected on the side of the civilians in the kibbutz, and none of the military women who were in charge of the radars and the various electronic equipment, the devices that are in the base, none of them was hurt, which is quite an accomplishment, as opposed to the sad results in other areas. 

‍

Michael

The soldiers in your son’s brigade, in the Nahal Brigade there, were able to defend against these rapists and terrorists coming in. In other areas where they broke through, they raped many women, including women soldiers, some of which have been taken into captivity. 

‍

There's now 240 kidnapped Israelis, Americans and Thais who have been taken into the Gaza Strip by the Hamas Jihadi terrorists. And the fact that your son and his brigade was able to stop the infiltration there, despite the horrific loss of life in your son's brigade, has saved countless more women, children, and others from a fate that befell others. That bravery is remarkable and it's just important to point out both the bravery and the tragedy that was averted because of it.

‍

Izhar Shay

‍

Thank you for noting that out. The mission those savages had was to rape, and behead, and kill young babies and torture families in front of their relatives just to make sure that everybody suffers and then get rid of them by killing them in all kinds of savage ways. So yeah, this was a mission. The mission was not accomplished in that region. The toll was significant in terms of the military toll, but this is what the IDF is supposed to do. The IDF stands for Israel Defense Forces. And this is exactly what they did. They defended the civilians, they defended the State of Israel. And on that side of the border, the border was maintained. 

‍

Yaron himself was part of a team of three, that was actually the commanding post of the unit. He was just sent to the commander of the unit at that time and another soldier, and the three of them stood in heroic ways against dozens and dozens of terrorists - again, very well equipped and highly trained. They responded. They were able to maintain the line. Actually, there's an interesting communications recording of the Hamas terrorists, where the commander of the area of Hamas kind of shouts at his people -why do they not enter the kibbutz? And they tell him that there is a jeep that they cannot get rid of; there is some kind of response that they are unable to overcome. And this is exactly the jeep, or the unit that Yaron was part of. Eventually after fighting hard against dozens and dozens of terrorists, the three people were wounded. One of them was severely wounded. This is the driver.

‍

The other one was severely wounded, who is Yaron. And the third one was wounded, but still was able to maintain consciousness, and this is the commander of the unit. And by some very heroic efforts of another officer, they were able to retrieve them back to an area where they could be treated first and then lifted by a helicopter back to a hospital. And this is where Yaron was pronounced dead. And the other soldier, by the way, is recovering now, doing relatively well, and we are very happy for him. He will survive, and he will be able to continue on with his life.

‍

I'd like you to just take a couple minutes and tell us about Yaron. 

‍

Izhar Shay 

Sure. So, Yaron was our youngest. He was 21 years at his falling in Kerem Shalom. Interesting to note, Yaron was an American citizen. He was born in the USA, and was brought up as a young Jewish American kid until the age of five, which is when we decided to relocate back to Israel. He also attended the American - 

‍

Michael 

In New Jersey, right? 

‍

Izhar Shay 

Jersey, yes. He was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey and grew up in Fairlawn. And then when we relocated back to Israel, he actually attended the American high school program here in Israel. So his education is half Israeli and half American by training. And he was, I should say, a proud Israeli American citizen. He obviously fought for the Israeli army, the IDF. 

‍

But I believe that we should all understand that he also fought for the American values of freedom, and the American basic norms of culture, of the Western world. And he died defending those basic values, which are, I think, shared by both Americans and Israelis. This is important to note as a kid and as a young adult. 

‍

Well, first of all, not the most important feature, but still he was very handsome. He had his bright blue eyes, and very, he was very good looking. We always used to say that he is the better version of all of us. He looked much better than I do. He was way more sophisticated than his siblings. They told him. So, you know, this is not something that we are now saying after he's passing away. This is something that he was told while he was still here with us. He was crowned, like, the king of the house, for all kinds of reasons.

‍

He was very modest, so he never took this in the wrong way. He was shy and modest, but still a very charismatic leader. He was a leader in the Tzofim, in the Scouts, where he spent a good number of years. Then he volunteered in a gap year between high school and joining the IDF. He volunteered with kids from economically challenged families in the south of Tel Aviv. Did this for a year.

‍

And then he volunteered to the best he could in the Israeli army. He was very proud to have joined a special unit within the Nahal Brigade. This is a unit where you have to work very hard for about 13 months, until you earn the title of a combat soldier in that unit. So you work, you sweat, you freeze in the cold, in the rain, you walk many, many long nights, and you do all kinds of crazy stuff until you are qualified to fight for the defense of the Israeli citizens, to join this special unit. He was actually eventually qualified in February of this year, 2023. He was awarded an excellence award for having been an outstanding soldier. Sadly enough, the officer who gave him that title in a special ceremony also died on the same day fighting against terrorists.

‍

But we still have that title in our house. Both their names indicate, in some symbolic way, the connection between them

‍

[00:31:45] Michael Eisenberg: Izhar Shay, who lost his son Yaron, decided that if the path of terrorists is nihilism and terrorism, our path will be light and building. That's what we do. We build when they destroy. And so his answer to the murder of his son by these terrorists was an initiative called Next October.

‍

Next October is incredible. Izhar determined that there would be one startup created in memory of each of the people killed on that day. We would build something that would employ people, that would inspire life, inspire innovation, as a tikun, a fix for what happened on October 7th. But this incredible initiative already has 500 partners, including Amazon, Google, Meta, many banks, venture capitalists.

‍

There are already 300 startups and 200 mentors that have joined Izhar’s Next October initiative. I think you'll agree with me as Izhar describes the initiative that this is among the most perfect answers to terrorists and nihilists. We will build and we will not only rise again, but build it back a whole lot bigger and better than before. 

‍

—--------------------

This is now past the phase of being just a vision. We have put together a steering committee. We have what we think is a good name. The name of this project, so to speak, is Next October. And Next October kind of indicates that we are looking forward, and we're looking forward to a better future. 

‍

And next October will definitely look much better than this past October, but it also records the timeline of the next 12 months. And what we want to accomplish is, we want to make sure that our response to this sheer evil - you can’t call this otherwise - we faced the most evil, atrocious set of activities that a person could think of. Our response to that is by creating, by innovating, by bringing good to the world, as a response to everything that those savages wanted to bring upon us.

‍

[00:33:50] Michael Eisenberg: What about your perspective has changed since October 7th? 

‍

[00:33:52] Ben Lang: I mean, I think I feel more conviction about living in Israel. I think it's, you know, more, more important than ever. 

‍

—-------------

‍

[00:33:58] Michael Eisenberg: What has been inspiring, but to be candid, not surprising, has been the reaction of global investors to October 7th. I already wrote, I believe it was in November, that I thought that the resilience that Israelis showed and the innovation that would turn up in this war would lead to a wave of investment.

‍

We at Aleph have invested a lot since October 7th. It started on November 7th, on the Gaza border, when we signed an investment in Dream together with Shalev Hulio. Shalev was in reserve duty. You can see in the picture in the Wall Street Journal that covered the investment, the M16 slugging across his shoulder.

‍

As we stood there, with one of the people saved on October 7th from one of the kibbutzim in the south–she was there with us–and we signed this large investment in the future of Israeli artificial intelligence, in the future of our economy. We've made many investments since October 7th at Aleph. This is our most active period in a bunch of years, but we're not alone.

‍

Since October 7th, Greylock has opened an office in Israel. Sequoia has opened an office in Israel. Axel Partners has opened an office in Israel. Global investors are all over the place. Missiles from the north. Missiles from Gaza. Terrorists cannot deter global investors. Because what they've seen since October 7th is a society that loves life and loves innovation, that has taken these lemons and made lemonade out of them, that has found ways to develop new technologies in the heat of battle.

‍

In fact, we now have truly battle-hardened CEOs. We now have incredible technology tested under battle conditions, that is ready to take on the civilian market. Investor attitudes have not changed since October 7th. You want the numbers? 7.8 billion dollars in private funding, in 577 rounds of funding since October 7th.

‍

Michael to Beezer: 

How has October 7th made you think any differently about your own investments in Israel?

‍

[00:35:52] Beezer Clarkson: 

‍

It hasn't changed our investing one iota, and I would also say on our platform is a large growth fund. 

‍

—---------------- 

‍

[00:36:01] Michael Eisenberg: 

I have known Eyal Waldman for many years, since he was an engineer at Galileo in the 90s. Eyal lost his daughter Danielle and her boyfriend on October 7th. They were at the Nova party, just dancing. Eyal was a tireless seeker of peace and coexistence. He employed many people in Gaza prior to October 7th.

‍

I interviewed Eyal for a podcast before October 7th. You can go back and look at that episode. The clip you're about to see is when I interviewed him after October 7th, after his daughter was murdered by terrorists. 

‍

For those who have been under a rock for the last six months, Eyal lost his dear daughter, Danielle, on October 7th. 

‍

Can you tell us about October 7th for you? You weren't in the country to start, right? 

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

Yeah. Yeah, I was in Indonesia. I was on vacation. It was a holiday. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

And you heard? 

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

I heard that she's not responding, that she's missing.

‍

So I took the plane back. Took me about 20-something hours to get back. They enabled us to land. Not with the plane I came, I had to bring another plane. They didn’t land foreign planes to come and land here. I got here, and three hours later I went down south. I found the car. It's full of bullets, blood.

‍

The body's already been taken. When we were going there, there's still engagements with terrorists Monday morning. We were very close, or part of one of them. So yeah, it wasn't a good day. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

And–you reached out to her, you heard, you knew she was at the party there? 

‍

Eyal Waldman:

‍

I didn't know, her mom knew.

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

Her mom knew she was at the party? 

‍

Eyal Waldman:

‍

Yeah. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

And they called and told you she's missing? 

‍

Eyal Waldman:

‍

And Guy and Sharon told me that she's not answering her phone. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

And you landed and you went down armed, I assume, I would hope. And her body had been taken already? 

‍

Eyal Waldman:

‍

Yes. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

It was subsequently reclaimed? Or no? 

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

It was taken by Zaka.

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

It was taken by Zaka. And I'll tell you when I came to visit you at the Shiva, it was one of hardest hugs I've had in a long time. And, in my life, you're there–can you tell us about Danielle, your daughter? 

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

She's an amazing person. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

What was her, what was her fiance's name again? 

‍

Eyal Waldman:

‍

Noam. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

Noam. 

‍

Eyal Waldman:

‍

And, no he wasn't her fiance. He gave her like, a promise ring. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

A promise ring. 

‍

Eyal Waldman:

‍

Yeah. 

‍

How you want Danielle to be remembered.

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

As she was. She was like–she's an amazing person.

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

You want to give some more details about her? I've read just about everything I think you've written on Facebook. 

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

You know, she loved to dance, she loved people, she loved dogs, she loved horses, she did wake surf, she did snowboard, scuba-dive, everything. She liked people very much. 

‍

Yesterday I was talking in front of Americans. And one American woman, girl, came to me and said, “I went to the gym with Danielle and I only speak English. And always when Danielle was there, she made sure that everybody around me speaks English to me. And also her boyfriend, Noam.” She said, “She took such good care. She was so sensitive to me, trying to help, even in the gym.” She didn't even know her, but she helped. So that's Danielle. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

Always there for people. How old was she? 

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

24. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

24. As we say, yehi zichra baruch. [Of blessed memory.]

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

Todah. [Thank you.]

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

And there shall only be happiness going forward.

‍

I lost a cousin on October 7th and thereafter. You lost your daughter October 7th. There's such a trauma in this country right now. It was real trauma around everybody, it's such a small country. Everybody knows somebody or is related to somebody who was murdered or raped or were wounded, because we've had a lot of, we don't even talk about them really. We have a lot of wounded soldiers. 

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

Both visible and invisible ones. 

‍

I actually want to ask an important question. You mentioned earlier that Jensen pushed you to hire more Palestinians. You always inspired me. I think you were always a man of peace, and a man of incredible optimism. You hired so many Palestinians, in both the West Bank and in Gaza. Am I correct? 

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

Yeah, we had about 25, 30 employees in Gaza. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

25, 30 employees in Gaza. 

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

And about 175 in the West Bank.

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

And do you think any differently about that today? Has anything changed in your outlook/ 

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

I divide it into two things.

‍

First, the short term and long term. So for the long term, the answer is probably not. And when we can talk about that. For the short term, I think what we need to do now is eliminate Hamas and Islamic Jihad. And this is, let’s not compromised about this. I think there's two units being built to take care of that.

‍

It may take us a few years, but we'll do this. Anyone that was associated with Hamas, anyone that passed the fence and participated in what was going on in October 7th will be eliminated. And that's number one. 

‍

Number two, I think in Gaza, we need to bring an international coalition led by the Arab League, led by Egypt and the U.S. and Europe be involved, and they should come and have two mandates on Gaza Strip. One, there's no artillery and rockets in Gaza. Anything that exists goes and being buried in Sinai. And second is education. Maybe they should bring the Emiratis’ education into Gaza. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

Deradicalization? Deradicalization, to un-radicalize the education.

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

I think they should have western education that talks about music, about science, about, paintings, and love, and stuff like this, instead of hate and destruction. 

‍

And I hope that within time, when they change their leadership, the Palestinian leadership, and we change the leadership here in Israel, we'll be able to create a peaceful agreement, a two-state solution that will yield the right synergy between the two people, the Palestinians and Israel.

‍

I think until now, the Palestinians did not want to have peace. I think both the economic and the political leadership enjoyed a lot the current situation by getting a lot of money from corruption. And that is why they kept it this way. We always came with suggestions of what the peace agreement should look like.

‍

And I've done multiple things with the Palestinians. I employed Palestinians. I donated $360,000 for a Palestinian hospital in Gaza. I've done a peace initiative that took about 12 months. But then Abu Mazen stopped it. I think we now need to make them want to have peace. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg:

‍

How do you make someone want to have peace?

‍

Eyal Waldman:

‍

Have them suffer. So we need to have them want to have peace. They should understand if they don't want to have peace, it's going to be miserable for them. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg:

‍

Peace comes from defeat at the end of the day, right?

‍

Eyal Waldman:

‍

No no. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg:

‍

That's what happened in Egypt. 

Eyal Waldman:

‍

No no. By the way, they think they won, which–I think also Hamas now think they won. So don't misunderstand. We want them to–they've done a lot of things. They've achieved a lot in October 7th. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg:

‍

Unquestionably.

‍

Eyal Waldman:

‍

So we should not step on their pride. You do agreements with respect, you do agreements with trust, and you do agreements that are win-win or lose-lose, whatever you want to call that.

‍

But in a similar situation, one of my board members told me that if both sides come out of the agreement and both of them think they left something on the table, it's a good thing. 

‍

But, once we achieve this, and we replace the regime on both sides, we should strive and make them strive for peace. Once they understand it's better for them to have peace with us, and we also do this, I think it's the right ground to have the right negotiations, to build a very significant coexistence of the Palestinian people, the Palestinian state with the Israeli state.

‍

Michael Eisenberg:

‍

I find it striking how optimistic you are about it given your personal loss, and how–

‍

Eyal Waldman:

‍

I think there's only one way to converge. I don't think any people can rule or be responsible on other people. It's never worked. And this is not something we should strive for. So we should do what's best for the Israeli people.

‍

And what's best for the Israeli people is to have a two-state solution. I don't think there's any other solution that is, will hold water for a long time. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

Has anything deeply changed in your outlook since October 7th? 

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

The time frame. It's interesting. It could be that we're closer to peace now than we were before. If you look at what happened in ‘73 there was a big crisis, and the number one enemy for Israel was Egypt. It was the number one enemy. And my father fought, he was a second in command of our brigade of tanks. I was second in command of brigade of infantry. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

You were in Golani, right? 

‍

Eyal Waldman: 

‍

Yeah, but that's reserve duty. I'm not normally in Golani, but in reserve duty. So in ‘73, Egypt was our number one enemy. And in 77, no one believed it would happen. But one guy, one guy, the Egyptians did not support him. No one from Egypt. The Israelis did not trust him.

‍

And Sadat came and says, “I want to talk to the Knesset, to the Israeli parliament.” And Begin that did not trust Sadat said, “You're invited to come and talk.” And this one guy, Sadat, has made peace between Egypt and Israel. And I think it's amazing that from crisis in ‘73, our number one enemy in ‘77 made peace.

‍

I hope the same things will happen now.

‍

—-----------------

‍

[00:45:22] Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

One of the things about this war is, I have met incredible people from all over the world who speak with moral clarity, who understand this moment that we are in in history.

‍

I met Stefan Tompson in Shuk Machane Yehuda, the market in Jerusalem, a couple of months after October 7th. The person I met was a fierce media warrior, for moral clarity and for the future of the West. He understood we're in a civilizational battle right now, between the forces of evil, of nihilism, of terrorism and Western values of science, of innovation, of morality, of life-loving religion.

‍

[00:46:00] Stefan has been a light, a light in so many of our lives. He dedicated his Visegrad24 media channel to voices of hope, of resilience, and of moral clarity. He exposed many of the lies being told on college campuses. He exposed the venomous professors preaching for the destruction of Israel in the West and Western values.

‍

He showed how so many institutions were captured. Stefan, my new friend, stood up when many in the media cowered. When many in the mainstream media, many well-known names, couldn't find the moral clarity to even call Hamas terrorists, to explain that Hezbollah were terrorists, to call out the depravity of the rape–Stefan stood up, and he dedicated his platform to the pursuit of truth, and the pursuit of Western values. We all owe him a debt of gratitude. And I consider him a new friend, and one I hope to keep for many years. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg

And so, for a guy who grew up in South Africa, is Polish, went to French schools, and grew up in England, why exactly did you come to Israel to do media on what's going on here with the war?

‍

Stefan Tompson 

There is, I get asked this a lot by Israelis. There's an assumption, there's a suspicion, almost, of people who are non-Jewish, who are supportive of Israel and of the Jewish people. There's an intrinsic suspicion. Why are you doing this? 

‍

Michael Eisenberg

‍

I'm not suspicious of you for it. 

‍

Stefan Tompson 

‍

This is not altruistic.

‍

There is a, there's a very definite self interest here. I understand that Israel is part of the West. My fight, my struggle, my battle for Western civilization and our values [00:02:00] is also being fought here. This is an outpost of Western civilization. It's also the birthplace, of course, of Western civilization.

‍

Without Judaism, there is no Christianity. Without the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ here on the ground in Israel, there is no Christendom. Without Christendom, there is no West. This is an incredibly important place to the West, and I am very baffled, upset, confused and shocked that so few people understand that this is not, this is not a fight for just Israel. This is not a fight for the Jewish people. This is a fight for all of us. 

‍

one of my worries is that a lot of the framing of Israelis, of this conflict, and the reason perhaps that there hasn't been as much support as there should be, is that Israelis are very often speaking about this in terms, of this conflict in terms of anti-semitism, in terms of attack on just Israel, whereas it's so much broader, that actually there are–this is, I think, what Israel really needs to do, is to inform the Western world that it is an intrinsic part of the Western world, it's an outpost of the Western world, and it's the battle line.

‍

This is the front line. And it's Israelis dying right now. And this war will keep advancing. I mean, we are fighting this allied unholy alliance of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Hamas, and other affiliated terrorist organizations. And they hate the Jews. But they don't love Christians of the West.

‍

They hate us as well. 

‍

Michael Eisenberg:

‍

I think that's fair.

‍

And I think that's to a certain extent that, that hasn't been, obviously you are in, I love the fact that Israelis refer to this part of the world as their neighborhood. I've heard that term so often. I don't know if it's a, is there a Hebrew word for neighborhood, Michael?

‍

Is that where...? 

‍

“Shchuna.” 

‍

Michael Eisenberg: “Shchuna.” But that has, by the way, in slang, some negative connotations too, but- 

‍

Stefan Tompson: 

‍

Yeah. Yeah, we're in a different neighborhood, of course. I mean, Europe is a different neighborhood. We don't exactly, we're not surrounded by Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. But nonetheless, obviously this region of the world hates you first and they hate us second.

‍

After the Saturday people come the Sunday people, as the saying goes.

‍

We're also seeing real time denial of true events. So October 7th–the evidence is overwhelming, I mean, there is really no, there should be no question about the fact that it happened. There was a massacre. Over a thousand people were killed. Innocent civilians were attacked.

‍

3000 Hamas fighters poured into Israel, committed horrific atrocities, documented them, live streamed most of it, and you're getting in real time–and I'm not even talking about the Arab world, I'm talking about the Western world–where you get people in the West saying, “Oh, it may have been AI, we don't really know what happened.”

‍

It's not even, they're not, it's not even them saying, “Oh this is a response to 70 years of Israeli crimes on the Palestinian people, blah, blah, blah.” No, they're saying, I don't know, it didn't happen. In real time. There's that famous, you know, Eisenhower saying, “please take photographs of evidence. Because in 20 years, there's gonna be people who are gonna say it didn't happen.” It's happening, you know, one month, two months, three months after the event. 

‍

[00:50:56] Yoav Shoham: At the end of the day, one plus one is two, and October 7th happened. 

‍

[00:51:01] Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

I want you to pay attention to what Stefan just said. His moral clarity about what the values are that we need to stand up for. How forceful we need to be in this very confusing time. A time when TikTok is showering you with not just vacuous thoughts, but dangerous thoughts.

‍

Anti-patriotic thoughts. Thoughts that the West, the US, is somehow immoral or morally inferior. Pay attention to what he said, because part of what is going on in this moment right now in history is people are just confused. Mainstream media has totally lost the plot. But thankfully today, we have people from Elon Musk to Stefan Tompson, to Anthony Goldblum, to Gad Saad who have stood up and insisted that we speak the truth.

‍

We find the truth. We Community Note the truth, and we find a path to show what everybody feels inside. Where the truth lies is not how mainstream media reports it. 

‍

[00:52:03] Michael Eisenberg: 

‍

Many people were surprised by the quote unquote outbreak of anti Semitism on college campuses. It goes much deeper than that. These protesters on college campuses didn't just make the campuses unsafe for Jews.

‍

They identified with terrorists. They beg the Houthis to launch another missile, to disrupt global trade. They wanted Hamas to rape more women and behead more children. Where does that come from? Well, we got a clue in the hearings in Congress, where university professors stood up and said, “Antisemitism depends on the context.

‍

Identifying with Hamas depends on the context.” Antisemitism has actually been percolating on college campuses, from Apartheid Weeks to literary festivals, and it just erupted in unison October 8th–way before Israel responded to anything, the tent camps were out. The supporters of terror were out on Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and other Ivy League campuses.

‍

This was well-coordinated. It was a moment they were waiting for, and Marc Rowan identified it, and decided to stand up and do something about it. And for that, Marc is a hero of the post-October 7th world. He didn't cower. He didn't hide in Apollo, his firm. He stood up and was counted with incredible moral clarity, incredible vision, and incredible determination.

‍

He led the change on college campuses when the president of Penn was removed, the place where he served on the Board of Trustees. It sent a notice to all college presidents, “You're on notice. Get your house in order, and if you didn't, you were going to be gone.” And then Claudine Gay fell, and then President Shufik of Colombia was also forced to leave.

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We owe that to Marc Rowan, and the many others who fought alongside him. 

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Marc Rowan: 

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There's been no price to pay for being an antisemite, for instance.

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These kids who are marching, they don't think about it, because there's been no price to pay. But if you come to Apollo, I would not hire you if you were anti-black. I wouldn't hire you if you were anti-gay. I wouldn't hire you if you were anti-anything. Why would I hire an anti-semite? Why should we hire in finance, in insurance, in consulting, in banking, or law, any of these kids?

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I think one of the things we should do is make sure there's a cost for being an antisemite. I think we should call out the 20 worst universities, the 20 worst civic organizations, the 20 worst philanthropic institutions. We should make it embarrassing to serve as a director on these boards and trustees.

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Because being an antisemite has been costless. One side, positive side effect of 10/7, the Jewish community in the U.S. is off the sidelines. They are engaged. And now they just need to be directed. 

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Michael Eisenberg: 

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And to exact a price. 

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Marc Rowan: 

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And I think that will be part of it. You know, it's not just about retribution.

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Michael Eisenberg: 

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Yeah. 

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Marc Rowan: 

I think there has to be a bunch of positives in education and other, other things. 

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I really want to couch what's happening in the U.S. It's not anti Semitism. It is anti-Americanism. We are in the middle of a takeover of our elite academic institutions by a dominant narrative that you can call post-colonial education.

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Oppressed versus oppressor, powerful or powerless, and the narrative goes as follows. If you're the oppressed, by any means possible, it does not, facts don't matter. It just matters in outcomes. And so Israel is seen as powerful. Israel is seen as colonizing. And therefore it does not matter whether the facts support or don't support Israel.

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And if you've had 20 years of this on university campuses, it does not surprise me that the population on university campuses in particular that generate our next generation of leaders has grown up this way. And what's happened is, you have this dominant narrative on the campuses and that dominant narrative affects students, because most students who come to college want to learn and have a good time.

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They don't arrive to be political activists, but when the cool kids are all out protesting, they're out protesting from the river to the sea. And then you ask them, “What river and what sea?” and “Who lives between the river and the sea, and how do they get there?” No one knows anything, but they're still out there protesting.

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And we can laugh at that, and I do laugh at that, but I do think this is what we're fighting. And some people combine this with DEI, which I think has been an accelerant to this. But anytime we choose people based a favored class characteristic, and not treat you as an individual–who decided which class is favored and not favored? 

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And that's really what we have on these college campuses. And what I tried to do, by being public, was actually just give people the courage to step forward and take this on. And that's what's happening. You're seeing it at Harvard. Larry Summers was fired because he had a bit of a faculty revolt.

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So presidents of universities learned to fear faculty. Now that Liz Magill and Claudine are out, presidents of universities now fear alumni and faculty. 

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[00:57:14] Barak Herscowitz: 

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There were Jewish employees reported that they came to work after October 7th and no one spoke to them, including their bosses. They were completely ignored by everyone as non-existent. 

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—----------------------

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[00:57:28] 

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Michael Eisenberg: 

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So clearly, this fight by Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and others in the Axis of Evil is an assault on the free world, an assault on the principles that we hold dear–capitalism, freedom, free speech, freedom of religion. And not only that, it's an assault on excellence, on meritocracy, on the things that America was founded on, that Israel was founded on, that the Jewish people hold near and dear. 

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And so, in this moment of refounding, as we reach the first anniversary of October 7th, we are forced to ask ourselves what kind of society we want–one based on meritocracy, or one based on the ideological purity of those in the ivory tower of academia?

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We're forced to ask a question. Do we want a society that thrives on meritocracy? Or one that thrives on victimhood? 

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My dear friend of many years, Sam Lessin, came on the podcast to talk about everything from what's going on in Silicon Valley to contrarian ideas. One of the most heartfelt segments was what happened at Harvard, his alma mater.

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I should also point out that my aunt, who I loved very much, was a senior professor at Harvard and administrator of the Radcliffe Institute for many years. Both Sam, and I believe my aunt would as well, are horrified by what's gone on at Harvard. It's come off the rails, as Sam details in the segment you're about to watch.

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I think in general, in the moment we're in, the value of a college degree, and an Ivy League degree in particular, is in question for the first time in a couple of hundred years. Who will hire people brought up and educated in these places of ideological purity and victimhood? I think this segment with Sam caused me to question whether these places are redeemable.

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I tend to like to be optimistic. I am not sure I am. Good people are leaving these institutions. And the question I want to ask right now of parents of conscience and many Jewish parents, why would you send your kids to these institutions? I asked this question one month after October 7th, 2023 in public on Twitter.

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But I ask it again now with more vim and vigor. Send your kids to the University of Austin. Send your kids to Tulane. Send your kids to college in Israel. They can get an open education, an innovative education, and when you send them here, they'll also build resilience. They'll build grit. They'll understand from their surroundings, from the defining generation that surrounds them, what it means to be gritty, how you build resilience and optimism to build a better future.

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Michael to Sam Lessin:

You made this bid to kind of get on the Harvard Board of Overseers, your alma mater. 

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Sam Lessin: 

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Yeah. 

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Michael Eisenberg: 

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Why'd you do that?

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You know, I mean, I was in favor, by the way, I would have voted for you. But Harvard didn't accept me. 

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[00:59:33] Sam Lessin: 

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So, look, Harvard had a tough year, if you hadn't, if you hadn't heard. What was interesting was I loved Harvard. I thought it was incredible. So many of my friends, my colleague, my wife, I met at Harvard.

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Like I think it's an incredible institution. And for years, I had been the one in my friend group, everyone was saying, “Harvard's off the rails. Harvard has these problems. It's not the school you went to.” And I'd always been the apologist. I'm like, “Nah, you guys are overstating it. It's fine. There are some problems. There are always some problems in institutions of that scale.” And then after 10/7 it became, I was like, “Oh my God, I'm wrong. Harvard is off the rails.”

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Michael Eisenberg:

So is Harvard redeemable? 

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Sam Lessin: 

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I'm actually an optimist. So here's what I'd say. I'd say that it's not just like we talked about the formal one zero versus, you know, others, and it's not a binary yes-no. Can Harvard be the perfect institution of–no, and it never was, by the way, either. Like, there's gonna be a bunch of departments that are messed up, and weird policies in places, and things funding you know, endowed chairs that make no sense. Like it's going to be mucky. Can Harvard do good in the world again?

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Can it be a beacon of truth and academic excellence and free speech? I actually believe it can. There's not a silver bullet. There's a lot of things that need to change to get there, but I do believe it's possible.

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[01:04:52] Michael Eisenberg: 

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The academic year starts in a couple of days. You think we'll see more or less antisemitism on campus over the next year? 

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[01:04:58] Sam Lessin: 

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Great question. Well, I actually have about a hundred-page slide deck on, it was called ‘back to school,’ about what I've learned about the situation at Harvard and higher ed, and what the key leverage points are, that I'll be publishing hopefully in the next day or two, getting it out there. It won't be perfect. 

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Michael Eisenberg: 

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I will include that in the show notes. 

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Sam Lessin: 

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There will be typos, but I think it will have some good points in it. Here's the interesting thing. My default is it's going to be bad. If you think about it. Like none of the fundamental problems have shifted. You know, last year there was a lot of quote unquote enforcement of policy that kind of went awry, and ended up amounting to nothing. There's a lot of reasons to be skeptical. 

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I've actually talked to several current students, you know, people who worked at The Crimson, people who actually have much more on the ground, informed opinions, and they're actually optimistic. What they say is, “look, we talked about how a lot comes down to people. A lot of the key instigators are gone. They've graduated, right? They've moved on.” They've said that, you know, the reality is that while the enforcement was fairly weak at most of the schools like Harvard, one, a lot of the students were shocked there was any at all, and they all want to graduate and get jobs.

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And then beyond that you know, the schools have really, they're prepared now in a much better way than they were. The last stuff, quote unquote, caught them off guard. We'll see. And then the last thing is, there's a whole thing about the graduate schools, some of which are pretty cray cray, and kind of their relationship on campus and things like that.

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So, it's interesting. I was default expecting, even a month ago I would have said I think it's gonna be pretty bad. But, I've heard some hopeful things from students in the last several weeks of talking to them. 

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—-----------------------

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[01:03:10] Michael Eisenberg: 

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Most of the world has moved on since October 7th. It's understandable. What's out of sight is out of mind. Headlines have moved on. The U.S. presidential election is heated up. October 7th, 2023 still looms large in the lives of many people here, and it's still going on. Hezbollah has been attacking since October 8th, firing thousands and thousands and thousands of missiles on the state of Israel, with nary a peep from the global community and certainly not from the United Nations. 

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But that's been the life. Over a hundred thousand people are still not at home. This is the life that's still going on in Israel, and you need to be aware of it, and we need to talk about it. You need to understand it.

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Over the last couple of weeks, I believe there's a sense that the tide is turning. The pager or beeper attack that we don't know who did, but wounded thousands of Hezbollah terrorists and killed some, was a moment of deterrence. It was a moment that said, “We might've been surprised on October 7th, but we're not going to be surprised again. We will surprise you.” 

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The taking care of business in the North with targeted attacks on terrorist infrastructure has exposed Hezbollah and their Iranian overlords, who have hidden missiles, large missiles in people's homes. Can you imagine the next door to the baby crib of your child? There's a room with a missile.

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Well, that happened in Gaza under the aegis of Hamas, and that happened with even larger missiles in Lebanon under the aegis of Hezbollah and Iran. But now we're turning the tide, and what I want you to pay attention to is, we got knocked on our backsides on October 7th, and the cost has been unbearable both in human life, in sacrifice of time, in strained marriages, in children that can't let go of their fathers when they walk out the door again and again to go to reserve duty.

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The initiative taken in the north is a sign, but it's only the sign that makes the newspapers. The defense tech ecosystem that has grown up here since October 7th is not just a sign, it's a build. It's optimism. The innovations in material sciences, in chemistry, and biotech that have happened here since October 7th are stunning.

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The advances in AI made in Israel since October 7th, whose results you'll see over the coming years, will cause your jaw to drop. The resilient population of Israel has stood up, and I think you're going to see something else. People want to raise their families in a place, not that you know why you're willing to die for it, but a place that you know why you're willing to live for it. 

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And what Israelis have shown over the last 11 months is we know what we're willing to live for. We know how to live for it. And so investors are turning up. And entrepreneurs are coming out of reserve duty, ready for bear, and building back bigger and better, and in a more innovative way.

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There are more entrepreneurs, wilder ideas, bigger ideas that are coming your way. And as Izhar Shay said, we keep the memory of all those who were murdered, who perished, who sacrificed on our behalf, front and center. As we build, as we innovate, as we display our optimism, that the world will get better.

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And I'll add one other thing. It's not just in Israel that you see struggles of leadership today across democratic countries. There's struggles of leadership across democratic countries. The welfare state is crumbling across democratic countries. There's a generation of confused kids, confused by TikTok, and not sure what they're living for.

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Israel will be the beacon of light for civilian resilience, for how civilians take not just control, but responsibility for a society. When leadership is confused, it will be a beacon of leadership for a defining generation that will inspire your youth. They will learn from our children, from our younger generation, for those that stood up to fight and those that came back to build. They will be that beacon of light that leads the West to the next 80 years of growth, prosperity and security. 

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It should be a much better year going forward, in a better decade, on the backs of those who have shown up to build back bigger and better. God bless and Shana Tova.

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