OPINION: Three years after October 7, Israel’s greatest generation is building its future

Days before the third anniversary of October 7, Israeli passengers aboard a FlyDubai flight faced an unimaginable emergency. After the co-pilot attacked the captain and the aircraft began to plunge, passengers rushed forward to help avert a potential Israeli 9/11.

Together with the wounded Indian captain and other crew members, they helped avert catastrophe. Among those who acted were a plumber and a dentist. Ordinary people, suddenly carrying immense responsibility, and doing so calmly, with determination and resilience.

For those of us who have spent these years alongside Israelis, their response felt deeply familiar: recognise danger, take responsibility, and act, however unprepared you might be.

We saw it on October 7, when people drove toward communities under attack to rescue strangers. We have seen it since among soldiers and reservists, and civilians who prepared meals, opened their homes, and cared for children in shelters.

We see that same resolve in the founders we back. Through three years of war, Israeli founders have kept building technologies in defense, computing and energy that other countries need.

We believe October 7 has shaped Israel’s greatest generation, and we are investing in what it will build.

America’s Greatest Generation endured the Depression and World War II, then built families, businesses, institutions, and the prosperity of the following decades. Their experience gave lasting urgency to what they wanted to protect and create.

We see a similar determination in Israel. People who have been through hell retain an extraordinary thirst for life. Similarly to the “baby boomers” of post WWII America, Israel is also having a baby boom in the aftermath of October 7th. They want to raise children, discover, build companies, and help their country flourish. Their scars and grief live alongside an insistence that the future must hold more than survival.

No achievement can compensate for those murdered on October 7, the suffering of hostages and their families, or the lives lost afterward. These wounds will endure for generations. Remembering that cost is essential to understanding those who keep rebuilding.

Their determination coincides with a historic change in what the world needs.

The AI supercycle is creating enormous demand for compute and energy. Governments increasingly recognise that semiconductors, quantum computing, autonomous systems, and advanced materials underpin national security. Owning these technologies and capabilities will shape countries’ independence and ability to defend themselves.

Israel’s universities and defense manufacturers have spent decades turning difficult science into systems that work. That expertise now meets urgent demand for missile defenses, advanced chips, energy and materials. The next challenge is scale: making those breakthroughs reliable and affordable for other countries. The founders who succeed will shape Israel’s place in the world for decades.

Israeli defense technology is also reaching allies beyond America.

Germany has received its first operational Arrow 3 missile-defense capability. Greece has signed an agreement for an Israeli multilayered air-defense system. Technologies developed to protect Israelis are becoming infrastructure for protecting Europeans.

And these relationships extend way beyond defense.

That outlook can seem difficult to reconcile with Israel’s standing today. The war’s brutal nature and human toll have damaged its reputation, compounded by an ancient and ugly antisemitism reasserting itself across Europe and parts of America. Jewish communities face hostility for events thousands of miles away.

We believe this period will prove a trough in Israel’s international standing. Our view is anchored on the Israeli people, the magnificent Jewish diaspora in America, their capabilities, and the relationships they can build.

Over the next two decades, Israel can consolidate its position as a regional power and global technology partner. Deeper relationships with Arab countries seeking stability and prosperity can connect Israeli innovation with regional capital and markets. Cooperation in energy, water, and industry can improve millions of lives.

Even the FlyDubai rescue offered a glimpse of that possibility. Israeli passengers, an Indian captain, an Emirati airline, and Saudi personnel caring for those who landed.

On this sombre anniversary, our thoughts begin with those who should still be here and the families carrying their absence. They also turn to those who have spent three years taking responsibility. Most Israelis rushed to do something for others. Some rushed into a cockpit. Others fought on the battlefield and left families behind for hundreds of days. Many carried the burden of civil society on their backs. They all carry an acute understanding of how precious ordinary life is.

Our confidence in Israel begins with them. They have shown what they will do to save lives. The coming decades will reveal what they can build so those lives can flourish.

Lior Prosor is a partner at US and Israel-based Deep33, a deep-tech venture fund investing across AI infrastructure, advanced energy, quantum computing, and robotics and autonomous systems