Photo courtesy Aviva Klompas Following Oct. 7, there was so much misinformation surrounding what really happened that day and during the war that followed. Both the mainstream media and social media were rife with it, and it was difficult to distinguish what was true and what was a lie.
One person who consistently delivered factual, up-to-date, reliable information was Aviva Klompas, an X user who had quite the impressive resume. She’s co-founder of Boundless Israel, a think tank that specializes in Israel education and combating antisemitism, she was the associate vice president of Israel and Global Jewish Citizenship at Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and she served as the head of speechwriting at the Israel Mission to the UN.
When Klompas, who is smiling in her profile photo on X, showed up on your timeline, you knew you could trust what she had to say. On Oct. 7, she went into full-time advocacy mode – and she hasn’t stopped since.
“The pinned tweet I have on X from Oct. 23 is, ‘The IDF is going to attack our enemies by land, sea, and air. And the rest of us are going to fight on the battlegrounds of academia, law, business, media, and every other damn front we can think of,’” she told The Journal. “That’s been my mantra and motto every single day. I read the news, and I’m outraged and indignant not just on a daily basis, but also on an hourly basis. I’m responding to it as best I can.”
“The pinned tweet I have on X from Oct. 23 is, ‘The IDF is going to attack our enemies by land, sea, and air. And the rest of us are going to fight on the battlegrounds of academia, law, business, media, and every other damn front we can think of. That’s been my mantra and motto every single day.”
Klompas, who has more than 300,000 followers, checks the news every morning when she wakes up, constantly throughout the day and right before she goes to bed at night, putting out posts as much as once per hour and often being one of the first people to break news.
“I have unhealthy habits when it comes to my phone,” she said. “I think about how we can better fight this narrative war all day, every day.”
Now, Klompas has come out with a book, “Stand-Up Nation: Israeli Resilience in the Wake of Disaster” (Wicked Son), which is a unique approach to Israel activism. Rather than sharing news about the war, this book highlights Israel’s altruism towards the world.
“Today, Israel is nicknamed the ‘Start-Up Nation,’ and it is celebrated for its booming economy and ingenious innovations,” she wrote in the book. “Less celebrated is the story of how Israel lifted up other nations as it lifted up itself — the story of Israel, a force for good in the world.”
“Today, Israel is nicknamed the ‘Start-Up Nation,’ and it is celebrated for its booming economy and ingenious innovations. Less celebrated is the story of how Israel lifted up other nations as it lifted up itself — the story of Israel, a force for good in the world.”
The author started working on “Stand-Up Nation” four years ago, back when she was a speechwriter for Israel at the UN and researching Israel’s history. She was fascinated by the remarkable story of how just 10 years after the modern state of Israel was founded, at a time when it was struggling and poor and fighting for its very survival, it started MASHAV, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 1958. This is Israel’s international development agency, founded by then Foreign Minister Golda Meir and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, which helps fellow nations with their development challenges by sharing knowledge and resources.
Klompas’ book outlines MASHAV’s work, such as when they built the first utility-scale solar field in East Africa, spearheaded clean water initiatives in Israel, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza and provided meals to starving children in India.
“For a while, Israel became a global leader in supporting newly independent states. Precisely because it was small and poor, Israel had an advantage over larger, richer, and more established countries,” Klompas wrote. “It was a model and source of inspiration for newly emerging nations facing their own array of challenges.”
She saw this with her own eyes. After finishing up at the UN, she founded and led Project Inspire, an initiative to show Israel’s work in social, environmental and economic development in low-income nations. She ran tours in Uganda, Kenya, Guatemala, India and Nepal, showing participants how people in these countries utilize Israel’s teachings and technologies to tackle poverty and inequality.
When Klompas traveled, she saw Israel in “the most unlikely of places,” she wrote. “While trekking in East Africa and walking through a small craft market, I spotted a handmade beaded bracelet with the flag of Israel alongside bracelets with the flags of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. In the remote hills of Nepal, I happened upon a group of children, and as I passed by they yelled to me: ‘Shalom! Namaste! Hello!’ In Uganda, I visited a remote island on Lake Victoria. Getting there required a windy bus ride, followed by a rickety boat ride, followed by another bumpy bus ride. When we finally reached Osanidde Village, an orphanage for children with HIV, we were greeted by teenagers who sang the Ugandan national anthem followed by ‘Hatikva.’”
“In the remote hills of Nepal, I happened upon a group of children, and as I passed by they yelled to me: ‘Shalom! Namaste! Hello!’”
“Stand-Up Nation” is a callback to what Israel really is, and what a massive impact the small Jewish State has had on the world – a much-needed reminder post-Oct. 7, when it is being bashed everywhere we look. Klompas believes that enough isn’t being done to communicate Israel’s nation-building initiatives.
“I think I’m the first one to write a book about it, if not one of the first,” she said. “I’m not sure that people who have been to Israel dozens of times are even familiar with MASHAV. How many people know this story about Israel as a developing country and founding an international development agency at the same time? It’s an untold story. And the more that I learn about it, the more it shocks me that people don’t know it.”
While responding to antisemitism and anti-Zionism are necessary, it’s also crucial to zoom out and see what bigger story we can tell.
“Israel was sending experts out into the world to share how you can more successfully grow more crops and better crops, or how you can harness solar energy to be able to pump water from deep in the ground,” Klompas said. “It was bringing thousands and thousands of people from developing countries to Israel to get trained in MASHAV training centers. The world’s engagement with Israel is much larger and much different from what we understand only in the North American context.”
What “Stand-Up Nation” shows is no matter what circumstances Israel and the Jewish people are in, we will continue to reach out to others in need.
“Throughout the history of the Jewish people, we’ve always engaged with the world,” Klompas said. “We value life and justice and compassion. We read about these values from Biblical times and are living them in the present. We are committed to our families, our communities and so on. We have a really unique and special place in the world.”
Even after Oct. 7, when Israel is in upheaval, fighting Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran, trying to help out thousands of displaced citizens, dealing with an interrupted economy and defending itself on the world’s stage, MASHAV keeps carrying out its critical work.
Recently, it opened the 17th Rwanda National Agriculture Show, where participants learned how to build resilient and sustainable food systems, and it taught a Spanish-language course, “Management and Application of Agrochemicals,” in partnership with the Embassy of Israel in Honduras.
“Despite the lack of political reciprocity or improved reputation, the work continues to expand for the simple reason that Israelis feel compelled to help,” Klompas wrote. “Whether the driver be idealism, pragmatism, adventurism, chutzpah-ism, or some combination, the Israelis who have devoted their careers to elevating low-income nations prove that, like Israel, you can be small and make a big impact. In an age where cynicism reigns, they inspire us to think big, dream audaciously, act boldly, and work tirelessly to build a better future for ourselves and for others.”
“Whether the driver be idealism, pragmatism, adventurism, chutzpah-ism, or some combination, the Israelis who have devoted their careers to elevating low-income nations prove that, like Israel, you can be small and make a big impact.”
Klompas submitted her manuscript six weeks before Oct. 7. It wasn’t until early 2024 that she was able to go back in and take another look, adding what happened on that tragic day. She also asked those whose stories were featured if they wanted to contribute postscripts to their chapters, and many of them did.
“They all wrote about their commitment, and how they hadn’t wavered as a result of Oct. 7,” Klompas said. “It’s much harder for them in this context, mostly because fundraising is more difficult right now. Most people understandably want to give money inside of Israel, but this hasn’t stopped anyone from doing their work.”
For Klompas, the past 10 months have been a bit of a blur. “There’s so much about the timeframe in October, November and December that I actually don’t remember,” she said. “There are just big blank spaces about what those early months looked like, because for me, every day since Oct. 7 has been focused on this war.”
Klompas splits her time between Boston, New York, Israel and Toronto – she’s originally from Canada. In the past 10 months, she’s been to Israel seven times.
She has also witnessed the antisemitism that proliferates on social media. Though Elon Musk has expressed empathy for Israel, at the same time, X has its fair share of real-life antisemites as well as bots.
“Antisemitism is exploding in the real world, and social media is a reflection of that,” Klompas said. “The echo chamber I’m in is filled with trolls and lots of people who hate Jews. When I post, 99% of the time, I don’t go back and read the comments or check my engagement. I’ve had Elon Musk occasionally reply to my posts, and I only know this because somebody messaged me and told me.”
She believes that there is too much emphasis on what Musk or other celebrities and influencers think. Instead, the Jewish community should focus on fighting antisemitism.
“The question is, what are we going to do to try to put this monster back into the box?” Klompas said. “I don’t think that the answers are solely going to be on social media. We have to be thinking in terms of education, public policy and having real world relationships with real people, and credibility with communities outside of the Jewish world. Ultimately, we need the people who are silent to speak up and say, this is not what I want my community to look like. This is not what I want my campus to look like. This is not what I want my country to look like.”
Creating alliances with other communities, like Christians and minority groups, is going to be crucial for garnering support for Israel and the Jewish people, according to Klompas.
“We all know that the hate that starts with the Jews never ends with the Jews,” she said. “Hate is like pollution. It doesn’t have a border to it. It’s not going to stop at the Jews. It’s going to infect our institutions and other communities. The only way to stop it is to get other people to understand that it’s a collective problem, and it’s not a problem of just the Jews. Once they understand that and they’re willing to take steps and actions to mitigate it, then society becomes safer for everybody.”
Despite everything that happened on Oct. 7 and the stressful, depressing and worrisome months that followed, Klompas sees how strong her fellow Jews are, and she has no doubt that we will continue to thrive.
“In the Jewish community, we feel a little bit safer, more secure and more comfortable when we’re with other Jewish people,” she said. “That sense of community and solidarity gives us resilience and courage.”
Oct. 7 may have caught us off guard, unleashed a wave of antisemitism and left us feeling anxious about our future. But Klompas hasn’t given up hope.
“We’re going to be the authors of the rest of the story.”
“This is, without question, the most heartbreaking and scary time in my lifetime, and in the lifetime of many Jewish people,” she said. “It’s certainly one of the most heartbreaking and scary moments in our modern history. Hamas wrote a chapter in the book of our history on Oct. 7, but that’s it. It’s one chapter. We’re going to be the authors of the rest of the story.”
Kylie Ora Lobell is an award-winning writer and community editor of the Jewish Journal. Follow her on X @kylieoralobell or Instagram @kylieorawriter.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.