J’lem summit is a ‘dream come true’

Isaac Herzog has praised a summit involving the biggest business delegation from the Gulf as something that “would have been pure fantasy a few years ago”, writes Nicole Lampert.

The Israeli president opened the Our Crowd summit, the biggest investor event in the Middle East for start-up companies, saying he was particularly happy to see so many delegates from Israel’s new partners for peace.

“It is an inspiring reminder of what can become possible with good will, openness and the intention to harness our collective creativity towards finding solutions that benefit us all.”

More than 8,500 people from 80 countries attended the summit in Jerusalem, which was founded 10 years ago by Israeli American Jon Medved. The big focus was on sustainability with about 200 start-ups featuring everything from milk made from cow DNA to drones which can help with reforesting.

This year marks the first Our Crowd event since the Abraham Accords and both Abu Dhabi and Morocco housed large stands.

“This is a dream come true,” said Medved, of hosting the event with so many people from the rest of the Middle East. “We are here in Jerusalem talking about how we cooperate, how the children of Abraham get together to essentially bring goodness to the world. One in which the Middle East, instead of being a source of conflict becomes a source of blessing.”