Hillel Fuld Debunks Myths About Israel.

HOST: JENNIFER (00:01):

Welcome to episode #42 of the Going for Greatness Show. I'm your host, Jennifer Weissmann, and my topic today is understanding the truth about the most misunderstood country in the world. And that country is Israel. Antisemitism is rising, the mob mentality is growing. Elon Musk recently said that he aspires to be Jewish, and that comment caught me off guard. And I wonder how we can help change perspective and share the truth about Israel, where my next guest, Hillel Fuld comes into this conversation. Hillel is a tech giant. Following the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack, Hillal shifted gears from a tech leader to becoming an Israeli advocate. He is out there on his massive social media platform sharing the truth. This is my full conversation with the amazing Hillel Fuld.

HOST: JENNIFER (01:07):

It's great to speak with you. You're described in the world Hillel as a truth ambassador. You have a huge history of being a tech entrepreneur, an advocate for the startup, and now, I guess, scale up Nation of Israel. But after October 7th happened, there was a seismic shift, it seems, in your space, and you've become an Israeli advocate, um, using your massive social media platform. You tweet something, and it goes viral and you reach millions and millions of people. So just to kind of start the conversation, I'm curious how the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7th changed the trajectory of your life.

GUEST: HILLEL (01:54):

First Jennifer, thank you for having me, and I have to admire your nice glasses 'cause they're pretty much identical to mine. We have good taste in glasses. Two seconds of background. I was born in Queens, New York, and moved to Israel 30 years ago as a 15-year-old kid. Always had a very deep passion for technology. And I'm talking well before it was cool to love technology and really, I just started what we call today, blogging, just writing on the internet. One thing led to another and I built myself, a multimillion-dollar consulting business working with companies from small startups in their garage to Google, Microsoft, and Oracle. What is the expression when you love what you do, you never work a day in your life -- was written about me.

GUEST: HILLEL (02:32):

I was a kid in a candy store every day, and just living the dream over the years. I did build quite a sizable audience on social media as a tech guy. I built trust, I built a reputation, and I leveraged that trust and that reputation in my career. October 7th gave me something that I think many people do not experience ever in their lifetime. And that is complete and total clarity. I had complete clarity on what I needed to do and what I needed not to do. And it was clear to me that now is not the time for consulting and tech and marketing. And so I shut down my business that day and took all of my time and resources and just repurposed them and reallocated them to leverage that audience and that trust to help defend Israel on the internet. Since October 7th, my mission has been twofold.

GUEST: HILLEL (03:20):

The first part of my mission has been to be a source of reliable information in real time. So accurate and real-time are reliable and real-time usually are mutually exclusive. 'cause if it's real-time, you don't have time to verify it. And if you're gonna verify, it won't be real-time. But my ability to cross reference various formal sources of information enables me to share things that with very few exceptions  --have been spot on. And so many people look to me as their new source, basically since October 7th. The second part of my mission has been inward, has been to give us -  our team, our people, a reason to get up in the morning. We're all deep in mourning and devastation and we all need a reason to get up in the morning. And so if I could provide that, whether it's milestones in the war, whether it's inspirational videos, whether it's a beautiful story that happened, or whatever it may be, I try to be a positive force in people's lives.

GUEST: HILLEL (04:08):

I try to be a source of positive news, and it sounds a lot easier than it is because there's a lot of negativity. So that's what I've been focused on. And if I may toot my own horn, I'm proud of what I've accomplished in this war because again, with very few exceptions I've been accurate.  I think the two things that I'm most proud of, I would say are that I have not lost my cool.    I'm getting an unmanageable and insane amount of hate on the internet. From calls of genocide and not Heil Hitler to actual horrible threats and horrible stuff. Almost daily I'll write a response and then before I hit respond -- I'll delete that tweet because there's just no point.  They're calling names and they're going at me personally.

GUEST: HILLEL (04:52):

I'm just focused on facts. So that's the one thing I'm very proud of. And it's not been easy if I'm gonna be totally honest. And the second thing I'm very proud of is the people that reached out to me and said to me "Listen, I wasn't on your side. I did not know. I thought Zionism was racism, and you just educated me."  I've gotten, I don't know, probably close to a thousand messages from people all over the world that said to me, you simply opened my eyes to an entire other perspective. I did not know any of this. So it's very nice that I'm helping our echo chamber.  I'm not belittling that because we all need positivity, but I'm very proud of the fact that I've exited my echo chamber. And the reason I'm able to do that again is because I positioned myself over the years as the tech guy that people trust. And so when the people in Silicon Valley, who are not necessarily pro-Israel are dismissing other people who are doing Israel advocacy because they don't know these people, and they just kind of dismiss them. They know Hillel and they trust Hillel. And so I'm kind of capitalizing on that trust to maybe give people a different point of view on what's going on in the Middle East.  

HOST: JENNIFER (05:51):

Do you feel like you're broadening the tent, non-Jews are starting to understand the anti-Israeli bias in the media. Do you feel like you're getting that kind of feedback on your tweets?

GUEST: HILLEL (06:02):

It's a good question. The way I see it, there are three groups on the internet. There's our group, we don't need convincing, but we need reinforcing and strengthening. Then there's the opposite group who I call the Heil Hitler folks who you write off. 'cause there's no talking to these people.  You can show them that the sky is blue, and they won't listen to you.  I wrote those people off. And once in a while, when I get a message from someone in that group that, I did change their mind, and it's a great feeling. But I'm not targeting that group because again, there's no speaking to these people. Now the middle group, based on my anecdotal evidence is by far the majority, are the people that aren't necessarily pro-Israel, but they're people with integrity. They're people with honesty, and people who are willing to listen. Those are the people that I'm targeting. And the answer is - yes.  I've gotten hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of messages from people saying, I wasn't on your side. I didn't know any of the things that you're telling me. And this is, this is shocking. Here is an example. In Silicon Valley or wherever this person is, we hear about the occupation all day long. How do you occupy? You occupy the Palestinian state and you occupy Gaza. And I say to them, okay, are you willing to learn something? They say, yeah. I say, then just open Google and type in the disengagement. And they'll see that in 2005 we left Gaza, we weren't occupying anything.

GUEST: HILLEL (07:13):

And they're like, holy cow, I did not know that. And I say to them, okay, furthermore, we are occupying an Arab Palestinian state. And they say, yeah, you've been oppressing them. I say to them, great. I'm cool accepting what you're saying. Just answer me one question. When was this Arab Palestinian state that you talk about so often established?  Just find me a date. And they'll Google it and they'll realize there was never an Arab Palestinian state in history. And so I'm not shoving my truth down people's throats and telling them they're idiots.  I'm asking, and I'm engaging with their opinions and explaining to them that their opinions are very biased.  They're based on if you're talking about genocide and Gaza, the only source of numbers and Gaza is actually from Hamas. So when you quote that Israel killed 40,000 people, you just have to own the fact that you are quoting rapists and pedophiles. And if you're okay with that, that's fine. But if you're not okay with that, then ask yourself where you're getting your information from. And so again, I'm not convincing anyone, I'm just asking and questioning their narratives. And through that, a lot of people have said to me: wow, you changed my mind.

HOST: JENNIFER (08:10):

 It feels like it's an overwhelming tidal wave. I lived in Israel, I'm back in America, and I just cannot believe the Gen Z hate for Jews, the Gen Z misinformation. And, it feels like we have to debate with everyone. I'm curious how you see the average person who doesn't have a massive following like you do, is supposed to use their platform and make any headway in this?

GUEST: HILLEL (08:52):

First of all, there's no, there's no solving quote-unquote the problem that they outnumber us, right? We're not gonna outnumber them. They outnumber us, and there's nothing we can do about that. The only thing we can do is stick to the truth. Our enemies are spreading horrible lies.  To them, truth is not a virtue. And so we need to stick to the truth --  even when it's inconvenient, by the way. But to answer your question, I think there's a common misconception maybe in the premise of your question.  Which is, I have a small following- how can I influence people? I'm just talking to my echo chamber. And that's something that I've heard a million times, and I'm sure you have as well. And I do believe that that's just a literal lack of knowledge as to how the mechanism of social media works.

GUEST: HILLEL (09:31):

If you write something that is impactful and it's written well, then all it takes is one person from your followers, even if you have three followers, all it takes is one person to share that. And now you access that person's followers, you have now exited your echo chamber. So the thought of - I only have a small following, there's no point. It's just simply inaccurate. It's just wrong. It's just false. You and me and anyone else, I don't care how many followers you have, have a responsibility to continue to show our moral clarity, to continue to stand in the way of the world's moral bankruptcy. And to tell the truth again, even when it's inconvenient, even if Israel makes a mistake, own it, but don't lie. I think at the end of the day, there are millions and millions of people out there who respect that who admire that, and who do listen to that.

GUEST: HILLEL (10:20):

But you and I know because we're smart enough to understand the mechanism of media, they make money from clicks, from eyeballs. And let's be honest, no one's clicking on an article that's: oh look, the Jews are doing a good job. No, they wanna vilify the Jews because that's what gets clicks. That's the reality. And so when you see these encampments and you see these antisemitic protests, I'm not denying that they're happening, nor am I denying or belittling the severity of them. But let's not kid ourselves that that's the majority. It's not even close.

HOST: JENNIFER (10:46):

What do you say to some of the biggest Jew haters and Israel haters being Jewish and using the cover of being Jewish and saying: "Well, I can say this because as a Jew, xxx"  I mean, we have a long list. Bernie Sanders comes to mind, of course, evil George Soros, and maybe even Jon Stewart- Hollywood's elite. How do we address that?

GUEST: HILLEL (11:10):

All we can do is speak the truth. That's all you can do. That's all we have is the truth, right? When you come at me with claims of genocide, or you come at me with claims of oppression, or occupation, or ethnic cleansing, or apartheid, let's talk about it.  If you're gonna throw that phrase out: let's talk about it.   Then I'll say, if Israel's an apartheid state, why is it that every single sign in the state of Israel is written in Arabic? And why is it that there are Arabs in the Knesset and there are Arabs in the Supreme Court?  You cannot deny that because I'll give you the names of the people. So if you're gonna call us an apartheid, please address that question. Right? So my answer is to the people out there who are the biggest haters:  I don't think there's any point in arguing or debating facts. All you can do is question their narrative. And if you question their narrative and you poke holes in their narrative, you make them ask themselves the question, then I think that that's how you make progress.

HOST: JENNIFER (12:04):

Let me change gears for a second. Talk about the future of Israel. What would you consider a win for Israel in terms of the next phase in the Abraham Accords? Would it be Saudi Arabia joining? What do you think the next move is there?

HOST: HILLEL (12:21):

Yeah, a hundred percent. Saudi Arabia is extremely strategic for Israel, there's no question about that. But I think if you'd ask me what is the most significant element of the Abraham Accords, of course, the business collaborations and Dubai, etc. it's great. But to me, by far, the most meaningful part of that is that peace is possible. Peace is possible. It's a question of shifting your mindset and not looking at Jews as the villain. And as soon as you do that, prosperity is around the corner. I do hope that the Abraham Accords will continue to expand to other nations. But first and foremost, it's a sign to those who continue to vilify us that it's not gonna get you anywhere. Stop vilifying us and join us, and, and let's build a prosperous future.

HOST: JENNIFER (13:13):

Do you see Russia, China, and maybe Qatar as playing a role in the future of Israel?

GUEST: HILLEL (13:19):

I think it's really interesting, 'cause there's a lot of talk about World War III, you know, but I don't think in World War I, they called it World War I, right? And they only called it that afterward. Meanwhile, if you look at this war right now, and you look at the number of countries that are participating in this war, whether it's militarily, diplomatically, politically, we're talking about half the world. So many countries are taking part in this war. One might claim that we're in World War III right now.  The reality is that Iran can spark a regional war in which, China, Iran, Russia, and everyone will participate. Unfortunately, not many of them will be on our side. It's a very big question mark, what's gonna be tomorrow in this war? And, the region in general.

HOST: JENNIFER (14:03):

In terms of the US election and the daylight between Israel and the USA, how do you feel about a Kamala Harris Administration in terms of supporting Israel in the future?

GUEST: HILLEL (14:14):

 I'm a pretty opinionated guy, and I recognize that I have strong opinions on some things. Before I answer your question, I think this is an important point to be made here, and that is that the internet does not facilitate nuance.  On the internet, there's the good guy and there's the bad guy. There's no gray. Everything's black and white, right? You can't say Trump is a narcissist, but he's also a good president. And Biden's a nice guy, but he's a horrible president. You can't say that it's either good or bad. You either love him or you gotta hate him. But that's not how the world works. And so, I think I would not hire Trump to babysit my kids, but I think he was a phenomenal president. And as far as Israel is concerned.  Biden seems like a nice guy.  I don't know all the conspiracy theories of that, I don't know what's true. What's not true? He seems like a nice guy. He was a horrible president for Israel. He backstabbed us every chance he got. To discuss an arms embargo in the middle of an existential war. What kind of ally is that? So, again, it's nuanced. That being said, Kamala Harris from the indications that I've seen seems to point to the fact that she's not a friend of Israel's. Just the fact that she creates this moral equivalence and compares Hamas to Israel. "Israel is doing that, but Hamas is doing that, or Israel shouldn't do that. Like Hamas shouldn't do that." We're not the same. And drawing an equal sign between Israel and Hamas is both inaccurate, but it's also dangerous.

GUEST: HILLEL (15:28):

And so that's something that she's been doing repeatedly. I do not feel confident that if she takes office, it will do anything but irreversible damage to Israel, particularly as it comes to Iran. I mean, the fact that when Trump left office, Iran was broke, and now they've billions of dollars and are weeks away from a nuclear bomb, should say everything. If Iran gets the bomb, Israel shouldn't be the only one that's scared. And so it doesn't seem to me that Kamala understands geopolitics, the complexity of geopolitics in the region of the Middle East. And it's a very scary thing because things are very fragile right now. And we need a strong president. And we need a president that when one of its allies in NATO threatens to invade its ally, right? Turkey threatened to invade Israel and a strong administration would've gotten up and said: NO that is unacceptable. But the Biden Administration didn't. And so to answer your question, I think she's weak. I think she has a very big misunderstanding of the region. If she wins the US Election, I think it will cause some serious damage both to Israel and to the region, but also globally.

HOST: JENNIFER (16:31):

It's very likely she could because the media is scrubbing her past. And she's being recreated as hip and cool. She's the new female Obama.  I think it's gonna be a very close election. You've become a legend. What does your next chapter look like? Are you gonna go back to the tech world, or keep this strong advocacy, or maybe you'll run for politics?

GUEST: HILLEL (16:54):

Not running for politics. That's off the table. That's not happening. As far as what I'll be doing, post-war, it's hard to say. If you'd ask me now, I don't think that I see myself going back to a pure tech play. I might work with tech companies as long as there is some sort of interface with the state of Israel, but I don't see myself abandoning the Israel advocacy world. That's how I see it now. But who knows what will be?

HOST: JENNIFER (17:19):

And my last question is about the hostages because we need to talk about that. Do you think soon they will come home one way or another? Is there hope? Do you feel optimistic?

GUEST: HILLEL (17:30):

We have to understand that one of our biggest problems in this war, in my opinion, is that we're taking Western values and we're applying them to radical Islam. Radical Islam does not share our values.  So, a value of, if I treat you with dignity and respect, you'll treat me with dignity and respect. It's something that is at the foundation of our Western civilization. Radical Islam does not share that value. If we put ourselves in the shoes of those who took the hostages, we would say of course we're not gonna kill innocent people. We'll keep them alive. Even if you wanna be cynical, we'll keep them alive as a bargaining chip. But these are not people with values. These are people who have no morals, no ethics, and no values. And so I don't know if I believe that these savages in Gaza have the self-control to keep the hostages alive. And unfortunately, as sad and tragic and horrible, as this is to say, if I'm being honest with myself, I don't believe that many of them are still alive.

HOST: JENNIFER (18:27):

Can share about Israeli resiliency that maybe the diaspora could use some information, some hope. What can you share?

GUEST: HILLEL (18:39):

We're part of a nation that has defied nature. And we are here, even though every single generation, we had the Hamas and the Hezbollah of that generation, and they're all gone. We don't know any Babylonians. Do you? I mean, they're gone as are the Syrians, you know, all of these ancient Greek, ancient Rome, ancient Egypt, they're all gone and we're still here. And so you look at all of our history, it is all the same thing. They tried to annihilate us and we survived and they didn't. And so that will be the case here as well. We'll win this war. Hamas will be no more, and we will come out stronger. Am Yisrael Chai is not just a phrase, it's an actual historical reality. We are alive and we are here, and we will dance again.

HOST: JENNIFER (19:22):

Hillel Thank you so much for spending time with me, enlightening our audience, and sharing your thoughts on the future of the most misunderstood country in the world, the state of Israel. Am Yisrael Chai.

GUEST: HILLEL (19:32):

Thank you for having me, Jennifer. 

HOST: JENNIFER (19:34):

Thank you for listening to episode #42 of the Going for Greatness show. Please remember Hillel's message that everyone can contribute to sharing the truth about Israel. Use your platform, use your voice, and share the message of truth. I'm Jennifer Weissmann. Until next time.