[00:00:02] Welcome to the Israeli Trailblazers Show. This podcast tells the story of the brilliant and

[00:00:09] resilient Israelis changing the world, an Amir host, Jennifer Weissmann. This is episode

[00:00:16] number 43. Today we're talking about the remarkable resiliency of the Israeli people, the

[00:00:29] day of unimaginable horror and won't be forgotten. As I record this episode on October

[00:00:35] 1, 2024, Iran is attacking Israel with hundreds of ballistic missiles. Iran is the head

[00:00:43] of a terrorist octopus that is running many of these terrorist proxies, including Hamas

[00:00:49] in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. But in the face of this devastation

[00:00:56] Israel continues to want and pursue peace. I know what you're thinking it might be hard

[00:01:01] to see, but the legacy media definitely doesn't report on all facts concerning Israel.

[00:01:08] It's a paradox surrounded by conflict. The people of Israel continue to innovate and

[00:01:13] contribute to the world. The rest of this episode are highlights of conversations I've had

[00:01:18] with people who are either survivors of October 7 or have gone on to make it their

[00:01:22] life's work to share about Israel's contributions in the world. Let's start with innovation.

[00:01:29] Israeli ambassador Shemit Sour spent time talking about bringing Israeli desalination technology

[00:01:36] to the island of Cyprus, saving over a million lives.

[00:01:43] The main thing was to explain and to build this trust that it's not zero-sum game. Like

[00:01:50] you can be very friendly with the Arab countries we never ever say anything about it. But

[00:01:55] at the same time, yes we can do business with Israel. Like Cyprus, it's a very

[00:02:01] right country. When I was there there were about four years of drought, the close-old

[00:02:06] the gardens and pools, we committed a deal so we have the knowledge, the expertise of

[00:02:13] the international plunge that we build there, we save this country.

[00:02:20] Let's keep talking about Israeli innovation saving lives. This time in Sub-Saharan

[00:02:25] Africa where 620 million plus people live many without electricity or clean water.

[00:02:35] This is where innovation Africa and Israeli technology bringing solar panels and fresh

[00:02:41] water comes into the conversation. What does innovation Africa do?

[00:02:49] So innovation Africa is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization with a very simple mission

[00:02:54] to bring Israeli solar water and agricultural technologies to provide light to schools

[00:03:01] and medical centers across Africa and crucially to pump clean water that exists just

[00:03:06] as beneath the ground. We were established in 2008 by the wonderful Sivanli Ali who

[00:03:13] was spending time in Africa and that's where she saw what real poverty meant. So she took

[00:03:18] a few solar panels, she raised the funds to bring electricity to a health center and that's

[00:03:23] where it all began. And so we realized that we were able to provide solutions, constructing a

[00:03:29] tower and just to be able to water throughout the villages.

[00:03:33] Now I want to transition to a conversation that I had with Michael Barzainay,

[00:03:39] whose father was killed by a Hamas terrorist group on October 7. Michael shares the details

[00:03:46] of how his father attempted to protect his grandchildren and daughter.

[00:03:53] I'm very sorry that Hamas killed your father. Can you take me through that?

[00:03:58] My father had a gun from around World War II. When the students something's happening,

[00:04:03] they apparently got the message that there's a some terrorist in the Kibut. So he went to my sister's

[00:04:10] partner with his gun and it was trained. I mean it's a former the cognizance in in

[00:04:16] those houses. His gun it was training with it so it's well trained. 75. But well trained.

[00:04:23] Went with the bike to my sister, made himself a coffee because she started the morning and then he

[00:04:28] found a good place to hide perfect protecting the entrance to their partner. And then from what

[00:04:37] we know about seven terrorists with basically the rifles they had a lot of high end equipment.

[00:04:44] I mean Iran wrote a lot of checks. He started shooting apparently killed a few but it's almost impossible

[00:04:50] to survive this kind of battle. So he was probably able to hold them a bit. They went in.

[00:04:57] They couldn't get my sister and their kids were in a safe one. So they weren't able to get in.

[00:05:03] Apparently some very small brigade of members of the Kibut's who are like reserve units,

[00:05:10] supposed to hold terrorists in place until the idea arrived. And apparently they came to the area

[00:05:15] and they just and the terrorist decided to flee. So they went away and that's what we knew.

[00:05:21] So when they ran away your father stayed on the porch. I don't think they've passed him

[00:05:27] without killing him but wouldn't make sense.

[00:05:30] October 7th, the day that Hamas attacked from Gaza was the worst catastrophe in the history of

[00:05:36] Israel. Of course we know Israel's intelligence and operational systems completely collapsed on

[00:05:42] that day and maybe even what's worse, it started a groundswell of anti-Semitism in the entire world.

[00:05:51] Now onto my next conversation with well-known tech guru, internet genius and now truth ambassador,

[00:06:00] hello fooled. Do you feel like you're broadening the tent? Non-Jews are really starting to

[00:06:08] understand the anti-Israeli bias in the media. Do you feel like you're getting that kind of

[00:06:13] feedback on your tweets? So it's a good question. The way I see it there are three groups on the internet,

[00:06:17] right? There's our group which we don't need convincing but we need reinforcing. We need to

[00:06:22] train thinning. Then there's the opposite group who I call the high-lit or folks who, you know,

[00:06:30] guys, blue they won't listen to you. They're just not. So I wrote those people off and once in a while

[00:06:35] when I get a message from someone in that group that I did change their mind, it's a great feeling

[00:06:39] but I'm not targeting that group because again there's no speaking to these people. The middle

[00:06:42] group which based on my anecdotal evidence is by far the majority are the people that aren't necessarily

[00:06:48] pro-Israel but they're people with integrity. They're people with honesty and people who are willing to

[00:06:52] listen. Those are the people that I'm targeting and the answer is yes the answer is again I've gotten

[00:06:57] hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of messages from people saying I wasn't on your side. I didn't

[00:07:02] know any of the things that you're telling me and this is shocking, you know you say to me just to

[00:07:06] give an example right? We in Silicon Valley or wherever this person is says you know we hear about

[00:07:11] the occupation all day long how you occupy the Palestinian state and you occupy Gaza and I say to

[00:07:15] them okay well are you willing to learn something like that and they say yeah so we'll then just open

[00:07:21] Google and type in the disengagement and they'll see that in 2005 we left Gaza we were not

[00:07:25] to buy anything and they're like holy cow I did not know that and I say to them okay further

[00:07:29] more we are occupying an Arab Palestinian state and I say yeah you've been oppressing them. I said

[00:07:33] to them great I'm totally cool accepting what you're saying just answer me one question one was

[00:07:37] this Arab Palestinian state that you'd talk about so often established find me a date and they'll

[00:07:42] Google it and they'll realize there was never an Arab Palestinian state in history and so I'm not

[00:07:46] you know shoving my truth down people's thoughts and telling their idiots I'm asking and I'm

[00:07:54] very biased and they're based on you know if you're talking about genocide in Gaza the only source of

[00:08:00] numbers in Gaza is actually Hamas so when you quote that Israel killed 40,000 people you just have to

[00:08:04] just own the fact that you are actually quoting rapist and pedophiles and if you're okay with that

[00:08:09] that's fine but if you're not okay with that then ask yourself where you're getting your information

[00:08:13] from and so you know again I'm not I'm not convincing anyone I'm just asking and questioning their

[00:08:18] narratives and through that a lot of people a lot of people have said to me wow you really changed my

[00:08:22] let me change gears for a second talk about the future of Israel what would you consider a win

[00:08:28] for Israel in terms of the next phase in the Abraham Accords would it be Saudi Arabia joining

[00:08:36] what do you think the next move is there? 100% Saudi Arabia is extremely strategic you know for

[00:08:43] Israel there's no question about that but I think that the you know I think if you'd ask me

[00:08:47] what is the most significant element of the Abraham Accords? Of course you know yeah the

[00:08:54] the business you know collaborations and and and Dubai etc it's great but to me by far the most

[00:09:00] meaningful part of that is that peace is possible peace is possible right it's just a question of

[00:09:06] you know shifting your mindset and not looking at Jews as the villain and as soon as you do that

[00:09:11] you know prosperity is around the corner and so you know yeah I do hope that the Abraham Accords will

[00:09:17] continue to expand into other nations but first and foremost it's I think it's a sign to those

[00:09:23] that do continue to vilify us that it's not gonna get you anywhere stop vilifying us and join us

[00:09:29] and let's build a prosperous future with hundreds of ballistic missiles just sent into Israel right

[00:09:35] now on October 1st understand this is just one more layer of escalation by Iran Israel will respond

[00:09:42] at a time of their choosing set another way Iran has written a lot of checks on October 7th

[00:09:49] they directed Hamas to break the Gaza border wall in over 60 places inside Israel they sent

[00:09:55] thousands of Hamas terrorists paragliding over the wall or just bulldozing the wall they came

[00:10:01] in by sea and they executed Israeli kids in their bed and out an outdoor concert very similar

[00:10:07] to burning man in America in closing this episode of these railies trailblazers show we remember

[00:10:14] October 7th while the hope of a hostage release continues just no Israel believes in peace

[00:10:20] the Abraham Accords of 2020 showed that peace is possible and that means that prosperity is around

[00:10:28] the corner for all that landmark agreement normalized relations between Israel the UAE,

[00:10:34] Iran, Sudan and Morocco and it was working so very well maybe this was one reason Iran wanted to

[00:10:41] stop more countries like Saudi Arabia from signing on to the Abraham Accord Israel wants peace

[00:10:48] and wants to contribute to the world, Amyus Rahaai the people of Israel live thanks for listening

[00:10:55] to the Israeli trailblazers show the podcast that shares the stories of the brilliant and

[00:11:01] resilient Israeli's changing the world feel free to go back and listen to the entire episodes.

[00:11:07] If you like this episode please share it on your social media or with your friends until next time

[00:11:13] I'm your host Jennifer Weissman