Michael Bloomberg launches regional innovation hubs in war-stricken Israeli cities - exclusive

• Published date: 18 April 2024
• Author: TAMAR URIEL-BEERI
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The initiative, under Bloomberg Philanthropies, intends to provide both support and expertise based on vast experience in other conflict zones to the most affected communities across Israel that suffered following the massacre on October 7 and during the subsequent war

Committed to providing support for Israel during the war

"I know this continues to be an extremely difficult time for everyone – and for Israel – and that's why I'm here," Bloomberg said in his opening remarks. "I have great confidence in Israel's future – because I believe in the power of those values.

"Those values have been attacked before – and they will be attacked again. But time and again, we have seen the power of people who believe in those values to overcome the worst in human nature. That is America's story – it is Israel's story – it's the story of the free world and it endures because it connects to something deep within the human spirit that no government, and no terrorist group, can kill."

Seated at the roundtable were mayors from all sectors, Jewish and Arab alike, including Tzvika Brot of Bat Yam; Rafik Halabi of Daliat al-Carmel; Miriam Fierberg of Netanya; Mazen Ghnaim of Sakhnin; Rotem Yadlin of Gezer Regional Council; and Raed Daka of Baka al-Gharbiya.

The group gathered at the Bloomberg Sagol Center for City Leadership at Tel Aviv University to discuss a "new program that will help bring world-class expertise to support 65 localities," according to Bloomberg.

Tel Aviv University President Prof. Ariel Porat said, "The Israeli government failed to provide its citizens with all kinds of different services. The municipalities could and should play an important role."

Indeed, the program intends to see the development of regional innovation hubs designed to serve each cluster's communities and their respective municipalities and help them rebuild stronger, with particular focus on the hardest-hit regions rather than individual cities because "regional dependency and interdependence amongst communities is such a big priority," according to James Anderson, who established and leads the Government Innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies and is the architect of the organization's work supporting mayoral leadership and driving local innovation in Israel.

Speaking to the Post, he said communities "really want our support... to enable and encourage that sort of regional thinking as communities build back better."

The focus of Bloomberg Philanthropies

Bloomberg...