
Marc Benioff joins Valley notables backing Gaza’s first coding academy - dianacbiggs
https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/09/salesforces-marc-benioff-joins-valley-notables-backing-gazas-first-ever-coding-academy/
======
jbermudez5
Having volunteered with Gaza Sky Geeks (GSG) and been on the ground all I can
say is that this is a big positive in the region and for the people living in
Gaza.

You would not believe how welcoming and hard working Palestinians are. There
is a generalization because of the conflict but at the end of the day these
are people like you and me trying to achieve their goals in a positive way.

There is a political situation around it and it cannot be ignored from the
moment you arrive but I strongly believe that Mercy Corps and GSG and
initiatives like the coding academy help a population that lives in harsh
conditions without access of what we give for granted in the US.

Here are some of the things that blew me away: \- About 50% of the founders in
the GSG were women. \- There are a lot of very young and talented engineers.
\- Walking through Gaza as a western looking guy I feared people would not be
super happy, it was quite the opposite, endless invitations to have coffee,
eat watermelon, say hello and welcome. \- Hardware startups solving issues
that could be applied to underdeveloped countries, one of my favorites was a
USB charger that you power by slipping into your shoe and walking.

There is no reason to not celebrate and join the people backing these
initiatives, they have a direct impact on good people and even if you have
concerns about the politics in the region, I think these programs help
alleviate the tension and let people focus on living their lives and not be
frustrated with the laundry list of day to day hurdles they encounter.

~~~
bogomipz
Good on you for donating your time like that. How did you get involved with
GSG? How long will you be there for? Cheers.

~~~
jbermudez5
Came across a post on social media and applied to help out as a mentor. There
was an interview processes and then some paperwork for entry permits.

I spent one week in Gaza and another week between Ramallah and parts of
Israel.

After the time there I still have contact with the friends I made there and
try to contribute with any initiative they put together.

It also pushed me to look for local initiatives here in the US .

------
dannylandau
Seems like Israeli companies are also trying to help out --
[http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-
mellan...](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-mellanox-
idUSKCN0Z21ZR)

~~~
inglor
I have second hand experience from friends working there. Lots of good
cooperation is happening between Israelis and Palestinians. If only our
governments didn't suck :)

The Palestinian workers in Mellanox are well liked and respected from what I
saw and the company enjoys having them.

~~~
detritus
Thanks for this — always good to hear from people on the ground, so to speak,
away from all the prepolarised babble.

------
sremani
From VentureBeat Article... [http://venturebeat.com/2017/01/09/marc-benioff-
eric-ries-dav...](http://venturebeat.com/2017/01/09/marc-benioff-eric-ries-
dave-mcclure-back-effort-to-fund-coding-academy-in-gaza/)

Here’s a list of the supporters matching donations: Skoll Foundation,
Salesforce’s Marc Benioff, Techstars’ Brad Feld, Y Combinator’s Paul Graham,
author Eric Ries, 500 Startups’ Dave McClure, Aramex cofounder Fadi Ghandour,
Crescent Enterprises CEO Badr Jafar, Leap Ventures’ Hala Fadel, Tech.eu
cofounder Jon Bradford, Kapor Capital partner Freada Kapor Klein and Mitch
Kapor, National Beverage Company — Coca-Cola Palestine Chairman and CEO Zahi
Khouri, Jabbar chairman Samih Toukan, Google principal scientist Blaise Aguera
y Arcas, Uber’s Amsterdam head of engineering Mustafa Sezgin, 500 Startups’
Khailee Ng, Techstars COO Jenny Lawton, and Techstars cofounder David Cohen.

------
cndesrosiers
Having read many of the posts in this thread, I feel compelled to contribute.

The complexity of the politics of the region are beyond my grasp. I am not a
political scientist, nor have I spent much time in the region. However, as an
entrepreneur who has volunteered with Gaza Sky Geeks and who has traveled to
Gaza to mentor at their co-working space, I feel compelled to say that (1) the
organization is unquestionably using its resources effectively to foster
startups there and (2) the entrepreneurs who are part of the accelerator and
the wider community who attends their events are some of the most intelligent,
hardest working, and good-hearted people I have ever encountered. That sounds
hyperbolic, but it's true.

Most importantly, the entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs are young and
have had no part in the decades of political and military conflicts that have
created the regrettable tension in the region. They have been implicated in
the large mess solely by virtue of where they happened to have been born.
Regardless on which side of the issue you fall, it is undeniable that the
problems have been created by members of the older generations. It seems
reasonable to place the bet that, if a more peaceful future is possible, it
will happen by creating productive pathways for the rising generation.

In the most challenging political context on the planet, Gaza Sky Geeks does
an excellent job of rendering its work apolitical. I have seen this first
hand. The organization is there to help Gazans create for themselves new
opportunities and more hopeful futures. And, again, the Gazans who participate
in their programs are of the best character and are only seeking to put their
energy to create value for consumers, regardless of race or creed, via their
startups.

I am not nor have I ever been an employee of Gaza Sky Geeks and have nothing
to gain by writing any of this. I have no dog in this fight. But for whatever
the words of an internet commenter are worth, I would urge skeptics to
consider giving the organization the benefit of the doubt. I cannot say enough
positive things about this organization's mission and their effective
execution of it.

------
9aa
As a mentor at the very first Startup Weekend Gaza, I was very impressed both
at the energy that young Gazans put into their ideas and their optimism that
they can build a better, more peaceful world with technology. I mentored one
young female entrepreneur who built an Uber-like platform for Gaza using SMS.
We spent all of our time discussing the possibilities for market expansion to
places where she wouldn't compete directly with Uber, and none of it
discussing politics. She was very driven to take her idea to the next level
and to travel abroad despite the concerns of her more conservative family.

While many of the entrepreneurs I spoke to were hesitant to voice their
political opinions because of the climate in which they live, it was clear
that they simply want peace and a chance to be creative with their ideas and
lives just like young people everywhere. They did not create the political
situation they are in but very much want to change it. They do not engage with
the rhetoric of the victim or the aggressor -- which are two sides of one
coin-- but simply were focused on the possibilities of expanding their
horizons and making something that could advance humanity bit by bit.

I was also impressed by the number of women present, as others have mentioned,
as it exceeded the percentages I had seen throughout the rest of the Arab
World. That alone is a significant achievement. These women were very
motivated to create a better life. And I felt nothing but gratitude and a
desire for upward movement and transcendence of conflict from everyone we
worked with.

I hope those reading this thread will consider focusing on the future and
supporting this initiative to support a positive future in Gaza, with hope for
peace.

------
dopeboy
I volunteered for them back in May of 2016 and wrote about it here on HN.
Can't say enough good things about the experience and the people.

Please help their cause. I can personally vouch that the money will go to good
people who are hungry to learn and eager to make a difference. I ran two
workshops when I went and we had great turnout in each session. People were
asking great questions and wanted to stay after to continue learning.

------
iblankm
I think the best way to see what's going on there is to watch the videos. Have
you all seen the ones about Gaza's startup founders and developers? Here are a
few:

Women founders + developers:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nAkx4n0yUU&feature=youtu.be](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nAkx4n0yUU&feature=youtu.be)

The crowdfunding campaign video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEJtZekhROE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEJtZekhROE)

There are some personal interviews too on that channel, but my favorite is
this bloopers video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f_w1aoJgO8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f_w1aoJgO8)

Another video that shows Gaza on the ground (no relation to the geeks there)
is Gangam Style Gaza. Love this!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYMh09vPwdM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYMh09vPwdM)

------
uipoliti
I applied to mentor and got accepted last Summer. I visited Gaza last December
and it was unforgettable.

The Gaza Sky Geeks (mostly geekettes!) are the most resilient and inspired
group I've met in my life.

Proud to support this effort. Would love to go back.

------
iblankm
The energy crisis that sparked this crowdfunding campaign (to get a generator
+ fuel for Gaza's startups and developers) is now front page news...

For those of you who have been conflating all Gazans with Hamas, read this:

[http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-
east-38604904](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38604904)

Gaza electricity crisis: Hamas breaks up protest

Meanwhile, comedian Adel al-Mashwakhi was arrested hours after posting a video
criticising Hamas, the Associated Press news agency reports. "There is no
work, no crossings, no food, no water to drink and also there is no
electricity," he said in the one-minute video, which has been watched more
than 250,000 times. "Enough Hamas. Enough, enough, enough. We want
electricity, we want electricity, we want electricity." Hamas has not
commented.

------
davidf18
I've been to Israel many times including during the time of the first Gaza
conflict (Cast Lead).

There were elections in 2006 and Hamas was elected over Fatah. Hamas does not
recognize Israel and is declared a terrorist state by the US, EU as well as
Israel.

There were supposed to be elections in 2010 but Hamas will not allow them.

Hamas has spent large sums of money shooting missiles into Israel and using
concrete meant for building homes and schools for and hiring labor for
building tunnels into Israel. So serious was the missile problem that Israel
created the Iron Dome missile system (see youtube or CBS 60 minutes) to
protect its population. That technology is now being co-produced with a US
arms manufacturer for sale to other countries. The Israelis have also had to
develop tunnel locating technology.

While Israel has a program of encouraging venture capital and startups, it is
truly a pity that the Palestinians did not elect Fatah over Hamas.

~~~
random314
> There were elections in 2006 and Hamas was elected over Fatah.

If the people of the land don't elect the party we prefer (by cross-checking
with our terrorist list) we have no choice but to support their seige,
occupation and Apartheid.

~~~
davidf18
The Palestinians elected a terrorist organization that shot missiles into
Israel killing civilians that also refuses to recognize Israel.

Egypt has closed off their border and flooded illegal tunnels to Gaza as well.

I was a few miles away from the World Trade Center in Upper West Side
Manhattan on 9/11\. I don't feel kindly toward people that elect terrorist
organizations to be their government. Sorry if that bothers you.

~~~
random314
[http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stat/deaths.html](http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stat/deaths.html)

See also the UN OCHA report that records the 2,220 victims (67% of them
civilians) of Israel's summer 2014 massacre in Gaza. 71 Israelis were killed
during the same period (9% of them civilians).

So is the IDF a terrorist organization in your personal opinion?

> I was a few miles away from the World Trade Center in Upper West Side
> Manhattan on 9/11\. I don't feel kindly toward people that elect terrorist
> organizations to be their government. Sorry if that bothers you.

Classic - equating Hamas with Al Qaeda and hence justifying prejudice against
millions of Palestenians, victims of Apartheid, seige and civilian massacres
by IDF in one smooth sentence.

So Khalid Sheikh Mohammed killing civilians is a justification for IDF killing
the same number or more civilians.

Once again, is the IDF a terrorist organization in your personal opinion?

~~~
shmerl
There is no reason to whitewash Hamas. They are point blank fascists. If you
claim they are "elected", then you claim that majority there supports fascist
regime.

------
bsaul
Weird how some supporter of the palestinian cause here almost regret that some
people in Gaza choose to find a way to live "normaly" and create themselves
some kind of future, rather than go and try to kill other people.

And here am i, naively thinking that everything that helps people turn away
from violence was a step toward peace...

------
oculusthrift
is doing something like this considered a political statement against israel?

~~~
ars
Not in the slightest. This kind of activity (economic activity) is probably
the best way possible to deescalate the conflict.

Israel has no interest in Gaza, they just want them to stop trying to attack,
so if anything this program is _for_ Israel, not against it.

If you need evidence for that, then note that even during the worst conflicts
Israel kept full communication (Cell and Internet) active in Gaza, which is
opposite of what is normally done (cutting communication of the opponent). And
it's not for wiretapping since easy encryption makes that infeasible in bulk,
plus the people you would want to tap are not the ordinary everyday Internet
users.

As additional evidence, increasing economic activity in the West Bank has been
the backbone of Israel's attempt to keep things calm.

The more countries depend on each other for trade the less conflict there is -
this is a pattern worldwide.

~~~
abalone
_> Israel has no interest in Gaza, they just want them to stop trying to
attack_

This is false and one-sided. Likud, the ruling party in Israel, has in its
platform an explicit denial of the right for a Palestinian state to exist west
of the Jordan river.[1] Everything you've heard about Palestinians/Hamas
denying Israel the right to exist is actually true about Israel as well
towards Palestine. (In fact Hamas has stated they would respect a two-state
solution; not the case for Likud.)

There are atrocities back and forth, for example "A month before [the murders
of Israeli boys that set off the attack], two Palestinian boys were shot dead
in the West Bank city of Ramallah."[2] However the scale of Israel's
atrocities in military operations is massively larger, and the conditions they
maintain in Gaza through sanctions and violence are unconscionable. One could
argue the conditions are calculated to foment discontent and keep the conflict
on the military field, because politically the settlements and occupation have
no standing, as regularly condemned by the _whole world_ in U.N.
resolutions.[3]

[1] [http://www.juancole.com/2014/08/charter-destruction-
palestin...](http://www.juancole.com/2014/08/charter-destruction-
palestinian.html)

[2] [http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25343-noam-
chomsky-%7C-ni...](http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/25343-noam-
chomsky-%7C-nightmare-in-gaza)

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_UN_resolutions_con...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_UN_resolutions_concerning_Israel_and_Palestine)

~~~
gertef
This comment fails to distinguish clearly the differing situations and
attitudes in re West Bank vs Gaza. Israel (including Likud) is far along a
path of disengagement from Gaza

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_disengagement_from_Gaz...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_disengagement_from_Gaza)

~~~
abalone
The International Criminal Court still recognizes Israel as the occupying
power in Gaza "based on the scope and degree of control that it has retained
over the territory of Gaza following the 2005 disengagement."[1]

[1] [https://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/otp/OTP-COM-
Article_53(1)-Re...](https://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/otp/OTP-COM-
Article_53\(1\)-Report-06Nov2014Eng.pdf)

~~~
YZF
No it doesn't.

The linked article which is not a court ruling, it's a report from the "Office
of the Prosecutor", says:

"While Israel maintains that it is no longer occupying Gaza, the prevalent
view within the international community is that Israel remains an occupying
power under international law, based on the scope and degree of control that
it has retained over the territory of Gaza following the 2005 disengagement.
In accordance with the reasoning underlying this perspective, the Office has
proceeded on the basis that the situation in Gaza can be considered within the
framework of an international armed conflict in view of the continuing
military occupation by Israel. The analysis conducted and the conclusions
reached would generally not be affected and still be applicable, if the Office
was of the view, alternatively, that the law applicable in the present context
and in light of the Israel-Hamas conflict is the law of non-international
armed conflict. Given the crimes of possible relevance to the present
situation, which are substantially similar in the context of both
international and non-international armed conflicts, it is not necessary at
this stage to reach a conclusive view on the classification of the conflict.
Additionally, as the protection accorded by the rules on international armed
conflicts is broader than those relating to internal conflicts, it seems
appropriate, for the limited purpose of a preliminary examination, in cases of
doubt, to apply those governing international armed conflicts."

So they're basically just discussing the context for this (whether the
situation meets some legal criteria to get to the next stage, by the way it
didn't). They say it's not really necessary to reach a conclusive view (i.e.
at least the prosecutor has no conclusive view, not to mention the court)
because it doesn't affect the outcome of this legal analysis.

~~~
Udik
(from Wikipedia, Gaza Strip, military occupation)

In his statement on the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict, Richard Falk, United
Nations Special Rapporteur wrote that international humanitarian law applied
to Israel "in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the
requirements of the laws of war."[41] Amnesty International, the World Health
Organization, Oxfam, the International Committee of the Red Cross, The United
Nations, the United Nations General Assembly, the UN Fact Finding Mission to
Gaza, international human rights organizations, US government websites, the UK
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and a significant number of legal
commentators (Geoffrey Aronson, Meron Benvenisti, Claude Bruderlein, Sari
Bashi and Kenneth Mann, Shane Darcy and John Reynolds, Yoram Dinstein, John
Dugard, Marc S. Kaliser, Mustafa Mari, Iain Scobbie, and Yuval Shany maintain
that Israel's extensive direct external control over Gaza, and indirect
control over the lives of its internal population mean that Gaza remained
occupied.

~~~
YZF
My point was not to debate the legal status of Gaza in international law. I'm
sure there are various opinions and various agendas. My point was the
statement made in the comment was false and the ICC has not ruled on this
topic and I didn't want that false statement to stand and then possibly be
repeated.

The situation on the ground is clear. The Palestinians (Hamas) control the
internal area of Gaza. Israel is imposing a naval blockade. Israel controls
the Israeli side of the Gaza-Israeli border and restricts traffic of people
and goods. Egypt controls (for the most part) the Egyptian side of the
Gaza/Egypt border and restricts traffic of people and goods.

For humanitarian and I guess legal reasons Israel provides some services and
goods to Gaza, unlike what we've seen in Syria where a total siege is
routinely used in warfare. This article itself is evidence that Israel does
not maintain absolute control over the lives of the internal population of
Gaza.

I think that anyone looking at the facts of the matter should be able to see
that once Israel withdrew from Gaza the Palestinians had enough control over
their own destiny. They certainly had enough control to build thousands of
rockets and shell Israel. Or is the claim that Israel shelled itself?

I can also see why the exact legal situation is complex. Gaza used to be under
Egyptian control before 1967. It's not recognized as a state by any country.
Israel withdrew unilaterally without any agreement covering the transition.

------
aclsid
Good job, tech will makes us free. Besides, I'm pretty sure that if geeks were
in charge of both Israel and Palestine, they would just solve their
differences on a PvP server, end of story :)

~~~
Apocryphon
Many terrorists have engineering backgrounds:
[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=engineers+terrorism](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=engineers+terrorism)

