Israel experienced the biggest act of terror that has ever occurred in the country’s history last Saturday, when more than 1,000 civilians massacred, thousands wounded, and over 130 kidnapped.
“If you look at this in proportion to the size of Israel’s population, this is the equivalent of ten 9/11’s. That’s how big and how devastating this attack has been,” U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a press conference in Israel this week.
Israel is a small country with 9.5 million people. The magnitude of the losses is huge, and everyone knows someone who was killed, kidnapped, or injured. What would you do in a situation like this? Because this is exactly what Israel should be, and is, doing right now.
The Israeli government, army, and civilians were not ready, and I’m pretty sure that down the road there will be an investigation about how exactly that happened, and how to prevent a future attack. But before anything else, you must understand the magnitude of this attack and the vast implications, some of which are too soon to determine.
Israel has one huge strength – its people. No matter what happens, they will recover and grow even stronger than before.
Right now, the Israeli hi-tech ecosystem, with my startups included, is focusing on helping the survivors and the injured, the soldiers, and civilians that are still under attack, while more than three thousand rockets were and, at the time of writing, are still fired toward the most densely populated areas in Israel.
This week will be hard and challenging in Israel, but later – it will be better. The hi-tech sector will end up stronger than before. Let me explain why. This is also the explanation for why Israel is considered a world leader in building startups:
The Four Cornerstones That Will Help Israeli’s Tech Ecosystem Overcome the War
In general, there are four cornerstones for any startup ecosystem, and the same goes for Israel as a country. Though in Israel there is also a fifth element.
1. Entrepreneurship spirit – this widespread Israeli characteristic relies on a minimal “fear of failure” culture.
At the end of the day, people will embark on the entrepreneurial journey when their passion is way higher than the combination of fear of failure + alternative cost. If you lower the fear of failure, you will end up with more startups.
2. Investors, in particular international ones, which we are blessed with in Israel.
The current government, with its plans to change the judicial system, has hurt the hi-tech ecosystem. A terror attack won’t, at least not for the long term. We might see a slowdown in the investment flow in the short term, but not in the long run.
3. Engineers – the good news is that Israel has a great number of engineers and very good ones that can, and will, continue to drive the hi-tech ecosystem forward.
4. Experience – a second-time entrepreneur has a much higher chance of being successful, regardless of what happened the first time. There are more and more second/third/fourth/multiple times entrepreneurs in the Israeli ecosystem today than ever before.
These four cornerstones are not unique to Israel, they are the same in San Francisco, Boston, London, or Berlin. But Israel has something rare, the fifth element, mandatory military service.
The Fifth Element – Mandatory Military Service
Now, everyone understands why this is needed and I would like to quote Israel’s former prime minister, Golda Meir, who said 50 years ago: “If they would put down their weapons – there will be no more war. If Israel puts down its weapon – there will be no more Israel.”
This mandatory military service has generated strong, resilient, and better-skilled people where it matters. People with perseverance, in leadership positions, ready to work in teams, and with extreme loyalty.
While acting under pressure like in the recent events, the fifth element becomes much stronger, and the result is that we can expect many, many good years for the Israeli ecosystem. Israel will come out of this crisis stronger.
One parting thought from me; tough times create stronger people, strong people create easy times, easy times create soft people, soft people create tough times. Now is a tough time for Israel.
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