By Genocide VC in Genocide — Oct 29, 2023

End venture capital's support of genocide

In the aftermath of the horrific 7th of October 2023 attack in Israel, over eight hundred venture capital firms signed a manifesto titled "Venture Capital Community Statement of Support for Israel"^[1], citing "..in the spirit of peace and unity, we encourage the global venture community to support and engage with Israeli startups, entrepreneurs, and investors as they navigate through these challenging times. We believe in a brighter and more prosperous future for the region"

However, rather than uniting Israel and pursuing justice, the Israeli government has engaged in ever escalating rhetoric and a brutal campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people. To date, over 8000 lives have been lost including 3324 children^[2], who have been murdered at a rate of one every 10 minutes since the 7th of October. An additional 1.4 million people have been displaced, and 27,000 residential units have been flattened.^[3]

On the 16th of October 23, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “This is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle.”^[4]

Defence Minister Gallant declared “we are fighting human animals,”^[5] and dehumanising Palestinians to rationalise wiping them out.“Gaza won’t return to what it was before. We will eliminate everything”^[6], previously having threatened to bomb those attempting to provide humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip^[7]

Israeli Defense Forces Rear-Admiral and spokesperson Daniel Hagari stated that “the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy.”^[8]

Israeli Major General Ghassan Alian, head of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, said “Human animals must be treated as such. There will be no electricity and no water, there will only be destruction. You wanted hell, you will get hell.”^[9]

“The State of Israel has no choice but to turn Gaza into a place that is temporarily or permanently impossible to live in,” a reservist major general, Giora Eiland, wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper. “Creating a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza is a necessary means to achieve the goal.” and added that “Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist.”^[10]

Writing for JewishCurrents magazine, Raz Segal an associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University, states "Indeed, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza is quite explicit, open, and unashamed. Perpetrators of genocide usually do not express their intentions so clearly, though there are exceptions. ... Israel’s goal is to destroy the Palestinians of Gaza. And those of us watching around the world are derelict in our responsibility to prevent them from doing so."^[11]

We call on the venture capital community to rescind their signatures, unite in the name of humanity, and unconditionally end their support of the ongoing genocide perpetrated by Israel and its government.