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‘Critical Moment for Startup Nation’: Global Coalition Unveils New Platform to Support Israeli Tech Amid Gaza War
Israeli national flags flutter near office towers at a business park also housing high tech companies, at Ofer Park in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 27, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
A global coalition of tech companies, entrepreneurs, experts, and investors has launched a new initiative to support Israel’s tech community as the industry faces the impacts of the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas terror group.
Circles of Dialogue, an online platform and community network, seeks to provide access to more than $100 million in immediate investment capital and free services. So far, major companies and investors from across four continents have joined the effort.
The project offers free access to various resources, capital formation networks, and expert advisers for Israeli tech companies to help them endure the current crisis and succeed after the fighting ends.
Since the outbreak of war with Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel, regular business has slowed down significantly. Israel’s business sector has been hit hard, with many finding it next to impossible to work on anything unrelated to the war.
Reserve duty in particular has become a major challenge for business across Israel as more than 350,000 people were called from their homes to join the war, taking them away from work.
“This is a critical moment for the Startup Nation, but Israeli innovation and technology continues to be ripe for lucrative investments,” said investor Ron Suber, a former president of Prosper Marketplace. “I wholeheartedly believe in the mission of Circles of Dialogue to ensure the progress made in the last decade does not falter because of the strife. We want to double down, reinforce our existing investments, and instill confidence in the market for the next generation of Israeli tech companies.”
Tech has become a backbone of Israel’s economy, and a reason why even in global economic crises the Israel economy can remain resilient. Indeed, tech has accounted for 14 percent of jobs in Israel and about a fifth of economic output. Last year, Israeli tech companies raised nearly $16 billion, the highest per capita in the world, after raising $27 billion the previous year. The tech sector also accounted for about half of Israel’s exports and 30 percent of tax revenue.
The Jewish state has consistently been among the world’s ten largest tech ecosystems in terms of funding despite being much smaller than its competitors at the top of the list.
Startup hubs in the country include Tel Aviv, the biggest tech center, followed by Jerusalem and Haifa.
The main goals of Circles of Dialogue are to assist companies in raising money from venture capitalists as well as angel and institutional investors, to drive customer acquisition and retention, and to improve essential services.
Alongside its online platform, Circles for Dialogue will create exclusive networking events to connect members of the global tech community to ensure Israel can remain a formidable teach leader, according to a press release put out by the initiative.
The cohort includes companies and organizations such as Blumberg Capital, Cross River Bank, Propel Ventures, and Tal Ventures, among hundreds of other investors, companies, and founders.
The effort is another example of supporters of Israel both inside and outside the country lending a hand amid the current war.
The post ‘Critical Moment for Startup Nation’: Global Coalition Unveils New Platform to Support Israeli Tech Amid Gaza War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.