#FIRGUN - Special Edition #4

It's been 27 days since Hamas massacred 1,400 Israelis including over 1,000 civilians. At the time of writing this, Hamas holds 240 hostages in Gaza, including 32 children, the youngest being 9 month old. Look at those little faces. They cannot speak for themselves. The families who survived, are living in a nightmare since. We must #BRINGTHEMHOME. All the hostages - NOW.

Regular readers of #Firgun know that this is a newsletter dedicated to positivity - it celebrates the achievements of the Israeli startup community. I must admit, it's hard to celebrate much these days. For example, this week was my birthday, but all I could think about was the safe return of our children, our hostages, and our troops.

We're still discovering the horrors and abuse Hamas inflicted on the victims before their death. It's sickening . There are approximately 300 bodies that have yet to be identified as they've been completely burnt, but what is already known about Hamas actions and tactics, captured in there own body cam footage, reflects the pure face of evil. The IDF released some of the raw material that was shown to international correspondents. I cannot get myself to watch it. Members of the Israeli parliament saw it this week and left the room in tears.

We've have also seen a huge rise in antisemitism worldwide. It starts with words, pure vitriol in social media. It continues with acts of aggression, as we've seen this week in US Campuses, including Harvard , Stanford, Columbia and NYU, or with the marking of Jewish houses and business like we've seen in Russia, Paris, Berlin and this week in Central London. I pray it doesn't escalate to violence, as we've seen in Dagestan this week, when an angry mob of antisemites stormed the airport to kill the Jews who landed on a flight from Tel Aviv.

Another thing that became clear this week, if you had any doubts, is the true intentions of Hama s and the fact that not only they do not care about the civilian population of Gaza, who they are seemingly shooting for trying to flee south and stealing the humanitarian aid from, but also they are actively happy to sacrifice them. In a recent battle against the IDF, the terrorists sent 100 women and children as human shilelds.

Hamas built 500k of tunnels underneath Gaza but failed to build a single shelter for civilians. They have built their main underground HQ in Gaza beneath the Shifa Hospital. Hamas clearly stated that they won't stop until the destruction of Israel and the killing of all Jews and that they will try again to massacre Israelis as soon as they can.

FIGHTING ANTISEMITISM

I want to call out several people and organisations who are working tirelessly to expose people who support terror and antisemitism. StopAntisemitism.org , Ella Kenan , Yoseph Haddad , Lee Kern , Douglas Murray , Ben Shapiro and many others.

I've also been very impressed with the strong condemnation of terror and antisemitism by some leaders, including the government of Germany . Watch this speech.

NEW FUNDING ROUNDS

We won't let terror stop us.

• Congratulations Guy Goldstein and team Next Insurance on securing a $265M series G to revolutionize small business insurance!
• Mazel tov Yoav Einav and team Guidde on your $11.6M series A to scale your instructional video creation platform!
• Well done Isaac Litman and team Neteera on your $6.7M series B extension for contactless remote patient monitoring!

EXITS

• Massive kudos Dan Benjamin and team Dig Security (acquired by Palo Alto Networks) on the $385M acquisition by Palo Alto Networks (Zell program FTW!)!

NEW FUNDS

• It's been inspiring to see several initiatives to support Israeli startups at this time and provide emergency funding. The latest one is Iron Nation a $20M emergency impact fund with leading Israeli VCs involved.

APPOINTMENTS

• Kol hakavod Danielle Ardon Baratz on your promotion to Partner at Red Dot Capital Partners (and congrats on the arrival of your second child into the world!)

RECOMMENDED READS

• I don't care - by Ari Lewis
• J'Accuse - open letter to Hamas supporters - by Daniel Wolf
• I was quoted by The Jewish News on how Roblox became rampant with antisemitic content

IMAGES AND VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

Anti-Israel content is dominating on TikTok among 18-24 year-olds: 447MM views vs 16.5MM views in the last 30 days (source )

Why don't you hear more calls for releasing the hostages?

The cover of the Sun this week

Example of Antisemitism online (Natasha Dach)

The young woman in the picture was shot in the back in the Nova music festival on Oct 7th. In the bed next to her is a Hamas terrorist being treated in the same hospital. This is Israel's morality.

Are pro-Palestinian rallies calling for peace or hate?

POV - you're meeting a friend at a Pro-Palestine rally. What does from the River to the Sea mean?

Meet Shaked Haran. 10 of her family members are held hostage in Gaza

Once you've seen the horrors committed by Hamas you cannot unsee it

If you're calling for an Israeli ceasefire, watch this interview with a Hamas leader

We don't laugh much these days. But this satirical video of BBC News shows how their biased coverage is seen in Israel

I'll stop here for now. I pray for the return of the hostages and our troops, and for better days to come soon. Be kind to each other.

Shabbat shalom.

Eze