Knox inspired by startup nation
Ro Knox said it was important to continue talking about the barbarity of October 7 because it makes it clear why Israel can't have a ceasefire.
Ro Knox has just returned from an “extraordinary” trip to Israel, where the Liberal candidate for Wentworth visited the world-class innovation hub of Tel Aviv, as well as the devastated communities in the south.
Knox is no stranger to Israel having studied at the Hebrew University, but that was nearly three decades ago and Knox told The AJN that the ecosystem Israel has since built around innovation is something Australia should look to replicate.
“Tel Aviv felt exactly like New York,” said Knox.
“The way they’ve structured their entrepreneurial hub in Israel allows for government funding, so money essentially goes in to pay for very speculative startups and once those are successful, they then sell them off to the private sector and the money comes back into the government’s fund.
“The government’s fund is almost self-funding, but it means that the businesses that are coming out are so innovative, so I was very interested to understand that because that’s something I really want to bring into Australia to drive an innovation agenda.”
Knox had meetings with the founders of startups, whose army experiences played crucial roles in their innovation.
“The roles and responsibilities they’ve had in the army is like no other country in the world,” she said.
“These are 21 year olds with a completely different life experience to most 21 year olds on the planet. They have a higher risk tolerance from an entrepreneurial standpoint, but they also have had such a huge amount of responsibility compared to other 21 year olds.”
In a stark contrast to the modernity of Tel Aviv, Knox was struck by the sheer devastation to the kibbutzim on October 7.
“I think it’s so disappointing Penny Wong didn’t go to the Gaza envelope because you can’t get a sense of the scale of the destruction – and you can’t get a sense of how hostile Hamas still is – unless you go,” she said. “I also met with females that are in the IDF, who are leaders in the IDF, and that was just extraordinary in terms of equality in the armed services.”
Knox also met the deputy mayor of Tel Aviv, Chen Arieli, who is a LGBTQ+ rights activist, and looked into UNRWA, because “the Australian government is still funding it and the Teals wrote a letter of support to reinstate the funding”.
Knox said it was important to continue talking about the barbarity of October 7 because it makes it clear why Israel can’t have a ceasefire with Hamas that doesn’t have any conditions.
“This is a group of people who it’s very hard to find common ground with,” she said.
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