In this feature story, Felice Friedson sits down with serial tech leader David Siegel to track how one family’s move to Israel became a magnet for capital, C-suite visits, and fresh advocates for the country’s innovation economy. With boycotts and investor skittishness pressing from abroad nearly two years into the Gaza war, Siegel’s Israel Tech Mission is betting on face-to-face exposure and targeted matchmaking to keep money flowing and founders building. The former Investopedia and Meetup CEO describes a surge of interest—“We’ve brought over 350 tech executives in less than two years”—and says tens of millions of dollars have already landed in Israeli startups.
The playbook mixes policy briefings (from figures like President Isaac Herzog and senior ministers) with sector tours, founder meetups, and visits to Israel’s north and south. Siegel leans into Israel’s tech-heavy GDP and export base, arguing wartime R&D—especially in cybersecurity and health—can power returns for investors who “get it.” He’s also pressing to widen the tent: a women-only October mission to counter the industry’s 60–65% female classroom pipelines that don’t translate into venture capital roles, and a push to recruit more non-Jewish executives who rarely see Israel up close.
There are headwinds. Some leaders fear board or employee backlash if they travel; others worry about safety or optics. Siegel’s answer is to keep showing the day-to-day resilience of Tel Aviv and to seed long-term communities among visiting executives so deals—and goodwill—compound after wheels-up.
Read the full story for Friedson’s on-the-ground reporting, concrete examples of trip-to-investment conversions, and what’s next for the Israel Tech Mission. Friedson also captures the human side—why aliyah felt inevitable for Siegel, and why he’s betting a curated network can outwork the noise.
A video report on this story appears in Facing the Middle East, Episode 14—watch the full episode for the complete conversation and context. After the story on entrepreneur Siegel and his Israel Tech Missions, the program turns to Gaza City, where the IDF is evacuating civilians southward for safety, as it pushes to uproot Hamas. Finally, Aaron Poris profiles Rise, Joshua Daniel Hirschfeld’s rock musical about clandestine Jewish couriers in Nazi Europe—packing houses even as venues balk over political risk.