‘Bring the hostages home, then rebuild for peace’ says leading tech entrepreneur
Eyal Waldman, whose daughter was killed on October 7, tells Candice Krieger why he is disappointed in the government and calling for lasting co-existence
Prominent Israeli entrepreneur Eyal Waldman, whose daughter Danielle was killed on October 7, hopes to see a change in government and the peaceful co-existence of Israelis and Palestinians, but this, he says, is for “the day after”. His immediate focus is on bringing back all of the remaining hostages taken during that catastrophic day.
Eyal, one of the most respected entrepreneurs in Israeli high-tech, is the co-founder of Mellanox Technologies, a semi-conductor company that was bought by Nvidia in 2020 for more than $7 billion (£6bn).
“We still have 101 hostages being held and it’s not over until all of these hostages are brought home,” he says. “This is our number one priority and we need to focus 100 percent on that. After we bring them back and eliminate Hamas, then we need to work out how to build back Gaza and establish the right government to ensure we can have a peaceful neighbouring state and a sustainable and stable environment.”
A critic of Benjamin Netanyahu, Eyal has made no secret of his disapproval of the Israeli government, particularly regarding its policies and actions that he deems detrimental to the country’s tech industry. A few days after October 7, Eyal uploaded a photo of Netanyahu to Facebook with a bloodied handprint on his face, and asked everyone to share it.
He posted: “Every additional day that this person sits in his chair, all parties will suffer.” Just days earlier, he had found out that Danielle, 24, and her boyfriend Noam Shay had been murdered by Hamas at the Nova musical festival.
Earlier this year, Eyal, 64, was awarded the Israel Prize for Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovation – Israel’s highest civilian honour, but the award sparked controversy. Eyal found out that the Minister of Education, Yoav Kisch, had attempted to block the award intended for him, causing widespread backlash. Kisch had planned to restrict the prize ceremony to only the heroism and mutual responsibility category. This led to a public outcry, a Supreme Court petition, and Eyal’s fight to challenge the decision, which he viewed as “political manipulation”.
After significant pressure, including testimonies from Eyal and his advocacy for proper governance, Kisch withdrew his opposition, allowing Eyal to receive the award, which he did in honour of Danielle. He said: “I think Danielle would have been very proud of me winning this campaign and would definitely have supported me. She was the kind of girl who didn’t give up on what she believed in. She was a fighter.”
Danielle and Eyal enjoyed taking part in sports together. He is a keen skier, scuba diver and wakesurfer. “I did all those things with Danielle, and also horse riding. Everything I did, and her older brother and sister did, she joined. She was amazing in all those sports.”
Eyal was in Indonesia on October 7 when he found out about the terror attack in southern Israel, where Danielle and Noam were at the Nova music festival. Initially, Danielle messaged to say they were safe, but about 35 minutes later, the family received a distress call pinpointing her phone location.
Eyal immediately flew back to Tel Aviv and enlisted the help of an Israeli army general to enter a dangerous area in search of his daughter. He eventually found the couple’s bullet-riddled car at the location of the phone’s signal, having realised they had been shot during the terror attack. It was later confirmed that their bodies were among the casualties identified from the violence.
Her father is widely regarded as a leading figure among Israel’s tech ecosystem. An electrical engineer, in 1993 he founded the chip company Galileo, issued it on the Nasdaq and left shortly before it was sold to the American company Marvel for about $2.7 billion. He started Mellanox in 1999 and has since served as the company’s CEO, chairman and president. He left shortly after its sale to Nvidia. Today, he is the chairman of Waldo Holdings, a family office that invests in private and public companies, funds, real estate and other financial platforms and vehicles.
He has invested in more than 40 businesses and is actively involved in Speedata, Pliops, AIRIS Labs and Ar-51.
Does he worry about Israel’s position as a tech powerhouse amid the war? “With Bibi as Prime Minister I am worried about all aspects of the country. I think he’s lost it – firing the Minister of Defence [Yoav Gallant] in the middle of a war and the person who was co-ordinating with the US and the rest of our allies is unacceptable.”
As for the new Defence Minister, Israel Katz, Eyal says: “He is definitely not the right guy. I count on the army to do the right thing and I don’t think they will let Katz impact our defence.”
He is, however, not too concerned about Israel’s economy. “The Israeli economy is robust and resilient. Yes, SMEs are having issues but, overall, the economy and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) are not suffering. The TASE is roughly tracking the US stock exchange and the shekel-dollar exchange rate is not collapsing in the same way you see in Iran. Our exchange rate is pretty robust. Sometimes we don’t even understand how it’s so robust!” He adds: “Over the next five to 10 years, defence budgets around the world will double or triple, and Israel is very strong when it comes to defence and military technology. Investors will continue to invest in Israel for the right products. High-tech will be the number one element that keeps the economy robust and defence the second.”
The downgrading of Israel’s credit score since the war is likely to impact the country’s banking systems and bonds in a significant way. “We will have to pay tens of billions more to cover our debt.
“I hope we change the government and the Minister of Finance [Bezalel Smotrich] and that we will be able to get our credit score higher. I think the Minister is clueless and tries to use the budget for what he cares about, such as supporting settlers in the West Bank.”
Eyal says he is still hearing hopeful noises about the Abraham Accords. “I am in touch with both Bahrain and the Emirates and how we can work together ‘the day after’ for Gaza. We are very fortunate to have the Abraham Accords and to have peace with Jordan and Egypt and need to make it stronger. Those four countries, together with the Saudis, will make ‘the day after’ work and take responsibility, along with the US and other European countries, for securing the transformation of Gaza. We are already working on this.”
Many have called for Eyal to take his public activity further and go into politics. Would he? “There are people who want me to. I hope there are enough good people so that I don’t need to but if not, maybe I would consider it.”
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