‘It’s Not Going To Be a Choice’: Entrepreneurs Who Came to Israel During War Turn Connection Into Action
After visiting a country still under fire, the organizers and participants of an e-commerce mission reflect on what they built — and what came next
They arrived in Israel when the country was still at war. Rockets were falling, hostages were still in Gaza, and uncertainty hung over every conversation. Yet a group of international e-commerce entrepreneurs decided to come — not out of comfort, but conviction.
For Dov Quint, head of storefronts at OpenStore, the decision grew out of the sense of helplessness that followed Oct. 7.
“I found myself after October 7th and seeing everything that happened, wanting to contribute in some fashion,” he said. “You know, I think it was very common in the days, weeks and months right after everything started to happen. It was very common to see people raising money, sending funds, sending supplies — flashlights, boots, all these different things that were needed by civilians or by soldiers, whatever the case may be.”
Going down south … those are things that I will never forget and that have had a huge impact on me to this point. … It certainly strengthened my connection overall to Israel
Those efforts mattered, he said, but he wanted to do something different — something that joined his professional background with his personal connection to Israel.
“And that’s all great and important, of course. I was looking for a way to do something perhaps a little different, to blend a little bit of my personal and professional passions,” he said. “And so I basically thought up this idea. I’m in e-commerce. I’ve been in e-commerce for 12, 13 years at this point. And I know that there is a big community of folks there that do different things. And I sort of concocted in my head this idea to do a mission specifically for people that are in the e-commerce community — you know, to bring them there for a bunch of different reasons.”
That idea became a partnership with Israel Tech Mission, which helped coordinate the trip. Quint reached out to founders, sellers and executives around the world, gathering a mix of people who shared curiosity more than background.
“The group of people that came was a mix of people that had been to Israel before, some people that had not, a couple of people that are not even Jewish,” he said. “It was a very diverse group. We had everything from a Satmar Hasid to, like I said, to somebody who wasn’t Jewish. And I just wanted people who wanted to meet other people on the ground and learn the stories and understand through their own two eyes, as opposed to from behind a screen, which is, I think, the way that the majority of the world learns about the things that are going on.”
Over several days, the group visited communities hit by the war, met startup founders and spoke with investors across the Israeli tech ecosystem. Quint said those encounters left a deep mark.
“Going and experiencing those things, going down south, you know, those are things that I will never forget and that have had a huge impact on me to this point,” he said. “It certainly strengthened my connection overall to Israel. I think the last two years generally — but I would say also this trip — have made me more seriously consider aliyah for sure.”
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Among the participants was Karina Lopez, from Mini Katana LLC, who said the experience changed how she understood Israeli innovation.
“A really big thing I learned is on our first full day in the trip, we visited the Shimon Peres Center for Peace and Innovation,” she said. “And we got to see a lot of really incredible startups and a lot of things that Israelis are working on. And a lot of Israeli innovation, we’ve realized, is born out of this place of necessity where you’re placed under pressure, and it just causes people to shine.”
She said that culture of necessity fuels something unique in Israeli entrepreneurship.
A lot of Israeli innovation, we’ve realized, is born out of this place of necessity where you’re placed under pressure, and it just causes people to shine
“And it brings out the best in them. And so there’s this really strong culture of resilience that we’ve seen woven throughout all of the companies we’ve spoken to, all of the founders we’ve met with, everyone we’ve seen — everything we’ve seen. And it’s really incredible, very inspiring to see.”
One of those founders was Isaac Hetzroni, the Florida-based CEO of Imprint Genius, who says the trip quickly shifted from a symbolic gesture to a professional opportunity.
“Well, practically, from a trip perspective, I advised about 400 different e-commerce brands,” he said. “So a lot of my job is consulting. Every single day, I’m consulting with the brand.”
Learning directly from Israeli startups, he said, was more than an educational experience.
“So learning about all of the new technology coming out of Israel was incredibly helpful,” he said. “And to be able to go and spread that to all of my students is going to be a big impact for them and how we can all collaborate on, like, a more individual level. There’s a company that is kind of like a marketplace for procuring products. And that aligns really well with my audience and my social media. So we’re working on building a content partnership together and working very closely across my agency and our content business — and then to promote their marketplace.”
Months later, Hetzroni says the partnerships are already in motion. For him, Israel’s role in global innovation is nonnegotiable.
“The R&D departments of a lot of the biggest companies in the world are all out of Israel,” he said. “Israel is going to keep on leading this AI revolution from a technology standpoint. It’s not going to be a choice, I don’t think. It’s going to be either you work with Israel or you fail because of the technology.”
It’s going to be up to the entrepreneur to say, Do I want to fall behind, or do I want to partner with Israel?
He also addressed those who campaign for boycotts.
“Yeah, you can try to go and boycott Israel,” he said. “But if you’re going to fall behind, it’s going to be up to the company, it’s going to be up to the entrepreneur to say, do I want to fall behind or do I want to partner with Israel? I think once they do partner with Israel and realize that we don’t have horns coming out of our heads, maybe then things are going to be OK.”
For Quint, the work didn’t end when the delegation returned home. The group still meets regularly, expanding its projects and producing content that reaches audiences far beyond Israel.
“This wasn’t a one-off trip,” he said. “The group still meets every week, and some of them are producing pro-Israel content reaching millions online. We’re already planning the next mission.”
What began as an act of courage in wartime has become a network of collaboration — proof, perhaps, that even amid uncertainty, business can build the kind of bridges politics rarely can.
