Much has been made over the course of the past few weeks about the conflict in Gaza. Israel, like the United States, is critical to the rest of the world for reasons deeper than simply the religious significance of Jewish sovereignty in the country. There is a school of thought that asserts that the fall of Israel would catalyze a domino effect directly leading to the ensuing fall of the West, therefore the protection of Israel extends far beyond an individual’s religious beliefs and the transparency of organized government.
Believe me, I realize the potential conflicting interests with regard to individual religious beliefs and the full scope of the situation. I also recognize the immense misinformation coming from the region. Anyway, my sense of religion is one of heritage and tradition as opposed to something based more on spirituality that the generations before me practiced. For me religion is a varying blueprint on how one chooses to live life and the choices he or she makes. Religion encompasses an individual’s connection to their family and responsibility to the bloodline.
Ironically I wrote this post on a boat, just 2 hours from the Middle East where I am at sea for a week with four dads and a combined 9 sons all under the age of 13. My son Jacob is the only child here for whom English is his first language (Jacob and I are from NYC and everyone else is from Tel Aviv). My son never experienced “traditional” religious education and this summer for his 13th birthday I was planning an “experiential” Bar mitzvah, which would include a spiritual story teller (tour guide), a surfing instructor, and a tour of Jerusalem’s basketball facility in order to explore Israel in distinctive, activity-based fashion. I seek to educate him through story and experience, hopefully serving as a strong and enriching foundation of his roots that he can proudly take forward with him in life.
Unfortunately, the current unstable state of affairs forced me to postpone our journey until I felt as a parent we could garner maximum impact. I’ve had conflicting feelings on this. I didn’t want to stay back but I had a lot of things to consider. I’ve convinced myself I can do more for the cause by staying back.
Today’s situation is the result of the last 60 years in Israel. The Israeli people took a land without any real infrastructure and created one of the most prosperous nations on Earth. The fact that Israel hasn’t been wiped out by Hamas is largely due to one of the greatest technological innovations of our time, the Iron Dome. The Iron Dome is a mobile, all-weather missile defense system. It is deployed to intercept short-range missiles in order to protect civilians in the path of rockets and artillery shells.
Israel is really a story of a society, chased out of every other corner of the world that has come together to thrive and build something truly special while contributing to humanity as a whole. In reality, Israel is armed with enough ammunition to wipe out the surrounding territory in an hour. Instead, Israel employs democratic values and acts in the best interest of its citizens, both Jews and non-Jews alike, as well as the civilians of enemy territories even while the enemy uses innocent lives as ammo towards global propaganda.
Because of Israel’s technological advancements and military prowess, there is a popular sentiment that asserts the prevalence of Israeli oppression toward the Palestinians. Many news outlets have painted this picture, but in reality the Jewish people have endured relentless oppression throughout their history, and in turn have orchestrated a masterful military system to defend themselves. This region is very complicated and there has been a lot of PR spinning and plenty of sick individuals willing to sacrifice their lives and the lives of their family to market a message. It saddens me in today’s world of openness and tolerance that there is a critical mass of people that do not have access to information, education and data to make the appropriate contextual decision for themselves. I thought this article on Zionism written by an un-bias American on the subject was both powerful and thought provoking.
Some of the strongest points made:
- You do not get to justify the calculated and deliberate bombings, beatings, and lynchings of Jewish men, women, and children by referring to such heinous occurrences as part of a noble “uprising” of the oppressed—that is racism. It is evil.
- If your idea of a righteous cause entails targeting and intimidating Jewish students on campus, arrogating their history of exile-and-return and fashioning it in your own likeness you do not get to claim that you do so in the name of civil liberty and freedom of expression.
There has also been a push for groups to band together to leverage media propaganda and generate hate via “Boycott Israel” products. As consumers, we should have the right to choose the products we buy, and whom we buy them from. I myself exercise this right by aligning my consumption with my personal moral compass. For example, when I learned about the cruelty towards dolphins for the commercialization of tuna fish, I altered my consumer activity. I also learned about an inadequacy with regard to US transparency around disclosing harmful sugars in certain products I consumed. I exercise a value-based reasoning system that in large part defines my purchasing behavior.
As Americans we are privileged to live in a democratic system. This system relies on our ability to make decisions based on our innate individual freedom and morality. As a member of the freethinking world; the basis of certain choices like the boycotting of Israeli products, hurts me. I’m not saying not to make decisions on whichever factors the individual deems as important, but it is imperative to know the full scope of the factors that are in play in a decision.
I think the list of boycotted Israeli products around food, technology, government, environment, and disease articulate some of the untold story of Israel. What I have learned though my Facebook feed and watching the news is that the part of the world that stands in opposition to the Jewish people, has a view that extends much farther than simply a dispute over a body of land granted to a people after World War II. I previously stressed the importance of assessing the conflict as one of the Democratic Western World as opposed to just religion. The world’s rapid interpretation and processing of the media spin taught me the necessity for day-to-day involvement boycott but have the info/data. Some of the things that would have to be boycotted because of its Israeli origins are mobile phones, Facebook (many of Facebook’s current applications are built in Israel), many of the Insulin injection devices for patients with Diabetes, the basis for most cancer treatments and medication, and much more.
I learned the necessity for this participation through the Internet. The openness and transparency of the Internet gave me a firm grounding in products and services with Israeli origin although I was someone who had very little to do with the direct cause. I’ve been able to read opposite viewpoints as well through my Facebook and Twitter feeds. This openness the web affords us here in the United States needs to be brought to the Gaza region as well. It is nothing short of criminal for masses of people to be robbed of access to information.
Longer-term education is crucial because the most meaningful impact will come from the education of the world’s youth. People (enemies) are taught early that hatred and violence is rewarded at every level. This is a terrifying reality. Even before the Israeli land conflict after World War II, there has been innate hatred surrounding the region (look at the atrocities of the Holocaust that lead to the UN declaring Israel a state. A common joke of every Jewish holiday is “they tried to kill us, we went to war, we won, lets eat”).
I bet many of you haven’t heard of youth renewal fund. It is a charity/schools built in the rough areas of Ramla. The schools are nondenominational, both Muslims and Jews live and work together without barriers. The students are able to just be kids, enjoying sports, art, and healthy debate. A close friend and business partner Marc Rowan started YRF. He has been outspoken about the transformative possibility of long term, bottom up impact of education.
So, where do we go from here? To be honest, I don’t know the answer. I’m both scared and hopeful, outraged and open, and I haven’t even had my coffee yet. I’m privileged to have amazing friends who use their creativity to help causes they are genuinely passionate about. We have a well-balanced and efficient team. While I push David Sable and Jane Rosenthal hard on short-term response driven messaging, they keep me in check with the big picture. Jane suggested a larger, modernized “We are the World” relying on the universal language of music to stitch together tolerance and perspective. David Sable immediately shuts me down when I’m theorizing on anything other than the long term and educating the region. I’m in guys. I’m so in that I can’t wait. In the meantime I think we can improve on showcasing the accessible information out there today, while preventing a faulty, closed-communication machine driven by Hamas as the source of marketing and communication that informs western consumers.
I also believe that there lies an unspoken double standard around self-defense and the protection of western values. If Israel disseminated, the west would be less safe. Democracy needs to be democratic. What would we in the US do if Mexico were hauling missiles at us? I guess the responsibility of western democracy is one in which we are forced to sometimes concede a battle in hopes of winning the war of eventual democracy and widespread education.
My good friend, Raghava KK talks about the power of open information and different viewpoints in his TED talk that can be found below. Raghava is in fact building a platform, Flipsicle, which allows users to see viewpoints on specific topics from around the world. Another friend, Wael Ghonim helped to promote democracy in Egypt by igniting the people of Egypt through information and accessibility of the Internet. He was featured on 60 minutes here. I’m fortunate to have Wael as a friend. His story is powerful. He is a trailblazer, and played an invaluable role in fighting the revolution in Egypt just 2 plus years ago. Wael has an insatiable desire for tangible change. I don’t ask Wael and Raghava to take a stance on the full scope of the situation. They offer unparalleled empathy and share a clear and motivated message supporting education, transparency, and unrestricted access to resources, nurturing a consistent and comforting hope for the future.
We all choose our battles and select causes, movements, and resources that intersect our values and potential impact. For me, a general theme has always been the democratization of information and resources. These anchors drive the intersection of my work, responsibilities as a parent, and my contribution to society. Google opened access to information, making the potential for knowledge ubiquitous. That’s why I joined and that’s the movement. Indiegogo, one of our portfolio companies tries to democratize fundraising for causes, content and products.
We the people are born with certain inalienable rights, and with these rights come a duty to present other people the same access to education, information, and the Internet regardless of their views. I’m so proud to be a member of the tech community that is contingent on the democratization of information, capital, education, manufacturing etc. This activation has far greater impact than unlocking price transparency in a manufacturing cycle like Warby, Uber (love Warby and Uber), etc. This is about our children, the children of the world, and the collective human morality.