“We have to show young people that we believe in tomorrow and that there is a vision for tomorrow,” says Russell F. Robinson, CEO of Jewish National Fund-USA, describing the importance of the organization’s ViZionaries initiative, a listing of the top 25 young Zionist leaders, created in partnership with the Jerusalem Post.
Leaders who can look ahead and plan for the future are essential to the Jewish people’s success, he explains. “I think that people are mostly followers in this world. What makes the difference between good and evil is leadership. Leadership fills the void by getting people to follow them, to see visionary thoughts of good, to do good, or to enact good.”
Robinson points out that while the tragic events of October 7 obscured the visionary capabilities of Zionist leaders, it served as a wake-up call for Jewish leadership. “We were dealing with the worst atrocities. We were still dealing with the war. We’re still dealing with the deceased hostages, who haven’t been brought home to their families. But what we gained from this wake-up call is that we’re unified. It’s about really talking about who we are.”
Jewish National Fund-USA’s list of emerging and talented Zionist leaders is comprised of social media personalities, business leaders, politicians, journalists, authors, and performers. They are trailblazers in their fields who proudly and publicly stand with the land and people of Israel. They are Jewish, Christian, and Druze, and, as Robinson says, empowering the people of Israel to make the world a better place.
What makes these visionaries tick? How do they cope with antisemitism, and what encourages them to continue their work? A recent conversation with the two top-ranked Jewish National Fund-USA Vizionaries clarifies the picture.
Eylon Levy, this year’s top-ranked Vizionary, served as an official spokesman for the State of Israel at the outbreak of the Swords of Iron War during its first five months, and in the process became one of the world’s most recognizable advocates for Israel. He recalls how he came to assume the position under unusual circumstances.
“When the war started, the Prime Minister’s Office, like so much of the State of Israel, was caught terribly unaware. On the third day of the war, I started giving interviews from my living room to the global media as a former advisor to Israel’s President Herzog. I set up a stack of books in my living room, put the laptop on top, and I tweeted a picture saying, ‘I’m a former advisor to Israel’s president and I’m available to give interviews.’”
Shortly thereafter, Levy received a call from publisher Rotem Sella, who was setting up a civilian volunteer operation that would come to the Prime Minister’s Office to speak on behalf of the country. Sella asked Levy if he was willing to grant interviews to the media from the Prime Minister’s office.
“On the first Friday after the war started,” says Levy, “I went to the Kiryah in Tel Aviv, and saw Ambassador Mark Regev, one of my childhood heroes. He said, ‘Eylon, I’m glad to see you. We’re drowning in interview requests. I want you to watch a few of my interviews, and from tomorrow, you’re on TV. I said, ‘In what capacity? He paused and said, ‘As an Israeli government spokesman. Take the title, and run with it.’”
Levy soon found himself in a suit and tie, standing behind the lectern at the Prime Minister’s Office, giving press conferences that were broadcast globally on BBC and Sky News, and granting hundreds of interviews. “It’s really a surreal story that speaks to the chaos at the beginning of the war,” he acknowledges, “and more broadly, to the awakening of Israeli civil society. We saw this country’s greatest moment when civilians just manned every position, and asked what they could do for their country. Many people found themselves in all sorts of strange positions helping the war effort, and mine took me into the Prime Minister’s Office.”
He summarizes his work during the war, saying, “I see my story as being a very prominent but far from unusual example of that awakening of Israeli civil society and the young generation who were tested in a moment of extreme stress, and I think proved themselves.”
How did Levy maintain his cool in the face of the frequently hostile comments and responses that he received? “I received the best advice from Mark Regev,” he says with a smile. “He said to grab the seat with your fingernails, which helps to channel the tension into the chair.” On a more serious note, he says, “I’ve learned that this country really has oodles of talent, and amazing people who need to be put in the right positions, given the tools and the freedom and the autonomy they need to run ahead.”
Speaking of his Jewish National Fund-USA Vizionaries honor, Levy says, “It is an incredible honor and privilege. The entire list is full of very worthy people who have really contributed their everything. I think this is recognition not only of my personal efforts, but also a stand-in for all those who have contributed their time to speak up for our country, to fight the lies, and to fight the hatred. The work that I’ve been doing is by no means unique. I think it’s representative of a bigger effort.”
Levy, who today heads the Spokesoffice, which he terms “a civil society effort to fight for Israel’s good name,” and has continued to provide an Israeli perspective to events on the ground, says that he would advise those interested in advocating on behalf of the State of Israel to learn to advocate by joining a debating club. “It is the best training to learn to think and speak on your feet, to make an articulate argument even when you haven’t been fully briefed on the subject matter, and to critically challenge other people’s arguments in real time. Arguing is a muscle that you have to train. It doesn’t come naturally.”
Twenty-eight-year-old Lorena Khateeb, an Israeli Druze, is a media professional, social entrepreneur, and longtime activist in Israeli public diplomacy in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. She hosts the “Voice of the Druze” radio program on Radio Tzafon, and since October 7, has focused her attention on public diplomacy in the Arab and Western worlds.
Khateeb, who hails from the Druze village of Sumei in the Galilee (Northern Israel), traces her Israel advocacy career to a visit she made to Germany to learn more about the Holocaust. Khateeb, then a high school student, was the only Druze student among a delegation of 50 participants from the US, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority on the trip, which was sponsored by the Education Ministry.
On the very first day,” she recalls, “they asked us to pick a chair and stand where we wanted. I saw that the Muslims went to the right and the Jewish students went to the left. I stood in the middle of the room. They asked me why I chose to stand in the middle of the room. I told them, ‘This is my reality. I don’t belong to either of these two groups. I’m representing my community. It’s a small community. I’m bringing a new voice – something new to the table. There are a lot of people from the Israeli society who know nothing about the Druze community, and about Israeli society. I came back home and I felt responsible for doing something. I started to advocate for Israel on social media, especially using my Arabic language skills, to make content about the Israeli society, and about how we live here as minorities.”
Despite her experience, she says, nothing prepared her for October 7. “I didn’t understand what we were dealing with until I went through social media, and I saw the first video of the Hamas terrorists in Sderot with guns. Since that day, my life, like that of all Israelis, changed. I visited the Gaza border communities where the smells of blood, of fire, and of destruction were still in the air.”
Shortly after her visit, Khateeb began to receive messages from young Druze Israeli citizens, who wanted to help advocate for Israel following the massacre and the war that had begun. She founded the “Druze on the Frontline” advocacy group to show the Arab world what it is like living as a member of a minority group during the war, and to show the world the evils that Hamas perpetrated. The group she founded began to contribute to Israeli public diplomacy efforts.
Khateeb reports that the content she and her associates generated reached millions in the Arab world. Speaking of the members of the group, she says, “They started writing content, creating, translating, and sharing content, and they became unofficial ambassadors to the world.”
Referring to negative feedback she has received for being a Druze spokesperson for Israel, Khateeb says, “One of the most common things that I heard in the last few years is that people think that when I advocate for Israel, I am trying to show that everything here is perfect, that Israel is a perfect country, and we have no problems. Israel is not perfect, just like any other country in the world. When I talk about advocacy, I don’t mean justifying Israel or defending only Israel. I simply want people to really know Israel. Let them see that there is something different here. Complex, but real.”
Khateeb says that she receives negative comments from people who are supporters of the Palestinian cause, who say that she is speaking against her community. To that, she responds, “I think that I am on the right side of history. I’m doing what I have to do, and what I should do. I’m speaking about the war that was forced upon us. I’m speaking about my community, my life here in Israel, about the stories that I have faced during the time I’ve lived here, since I was born. I feel very proud to be a Druze woman. I feel very proud to be an Israeli. These two backgrounds give me a lot of hope for a better future for the whole of Israeli society. We always try to improve our country despite everything, despite the challenges that we face.”
Commenting on being named as one of the top Jewish National Fund-USA Vizionaries for 2025, Khateeb says, “It was a great honor to receive the message that I was selected, among others whose work I really value, and who are doing an amazing job. I just saw the names, and I was extremely honored, and I really appreciate it.”
Summing up the impact of the Vizionaries, Robinson says, “To bring those visionaries together to start working for the future is to empower our young people. They want to be empowered to know that our Jewish community, our land, and the people of Israel will be around for the next 3,500 years and believe that we have made the world a better place. Israel makes the world a better place. I’m very proud of that. When we’re working with these Vizionaries and we can collectively bring them together, and they can tell those great stories about us as Jews and as supporters of Israel, our homeland really does make the world a better place.”
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This article was written in cooperation with Jewish National Fund-USA.