Boston-based Aviva Klompas, one of Hadassah’s “18 American Zionist Women You Should Know” for 2024, writes and speaks internationally about Zionism and Jew hatred. She co-founded and heads Boundless Israel, often referred to as Boundless, a “think-action tank,” as she describes it, that is reimagining Israel education and the fight against antisemitism in the United States.

Shortly before October 7, 2023, Klompas submitted the manuscript for Stand-Up Nation: Israeli Resilience in the Wake of Disaster (Wicked Son), in which she profiles 18 extraordinary Israelis involved in international development work. The title, of course, riffs on “Start-up Nation,” the nickname Israel earned through its entrepreneurial innovation and the title of a popular book by Dan Senor and Saul Singer on Israeli high-tech achievements.

“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,” Klompas writes in her book.

As the speechwriter for Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, from 2013 to 2015, she had learned of the Israeli government’s decision—based on idealism, pragmatism, adventurism and chutzpah, she writes—beginning in the 1950s to help other developing nations despite its own struggles. To this day, many Israeli nonprofits sponsor programs throughout Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

After the Hamas attack on Israel, Klompas updated the book’s introduction and invited interviewees to add postscripts to highlight how “October 7 reaffirmed Israel’s desire to grow partnerships and cross-border friendships,” she said in an interview.

Klompas, who describes herself as an “outspoken Zionist and proud Jew,” acknowledges that it has become more difficult for Israel to create those friendships today. And that lends intensity to her work at Boundless, which she co-founded three years ago with the academic and pro-Israel advocate Rachel Fish, who was previously the executive director of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

What unmet need does Boundless fill?

The issues of Israel education and antisemitism have been on the radar of Jewish organizations for more than 20 years. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent, but we see that things haven’t gotten better.

Sitting at the intersection of the philanthropic community and the practitioners on the ground, Boundless asks tough questions, undertakes groundbreaking research and then develops recommendations for funders, practitioners, policymakers and both Jewish and non-Jewish community leaders.

Can you give some examples?

During the May 2021 conflict between Israel and Gaza, we saw an enormous online surge in weaponized language—words like genocide, apartheid and colonialism. Boundless hired data scientists to study the relationship between what was happening online and what was happening in the real world.

We found that in the same geographic locations where weaponized language surged on social media, there was anti-Israel protest activity and real-world antisemitism. Once we knew that, we could show policymakers that there’s a relationship between vitriolic language and antisemitism.

On the ground, we partner with Chabad on Campus to design and deliver Israel education to about 20 campuses each year, reaching approximately 15,000 to 20,000 students. We are proud that this has scaled to an impactful national program.

How can people influence conversations around Israel?

Getting educated will build your confidence to engage in conversation. I like to listen to podcasts while I’m out doing other things, and it allows me to absorb a lot of information.

Secondly, think about your network. We all belong to different worlds: our gym class, co-workers, social circles. In the course of conversation, you can share some interesting fact you read or heard and why it stands out in your mind.

The third thing is to distinguish between calling in and calling out. Some people are vehemently anti-Israel or anti-Jewish. If that hatred translates into bias, we should call them out.

More frequently, people are afraid to enter into conversations about Israel and we need to figure out how to call them in. You can only do that in a relationship of trust and respect, and in the context of sharing your own story and feelings about Israel and being Jewish at this time.

What about the future?

Nobody knows what will happen next. But looking to history can be helpful and reassuring.

The circumstances now are not entirely different than in Israel’s first 10 years: fighting wars of survival, being attacked economically, diplomatically and socially, and trying to figure out what to do.

Israel chose, in those first 10 years, to look outward rather than inward. It founded an international development agency when it was itself a developing country. This speaks to the character of who we are as a people. That’s the Israel I know.

Can you share an example of the individuals involved in Israel’s international work that you mentioned in your book?

All 18 are equally worthy of mention. I grouped them by categories I called Chutzpah(ism), Idealism, Pragmatism and Adventurism, so I’ll share one from the Chutzpah-ism section.

In 1994, Gal Lusky, who grew up on Kibbutz Hukok in Northern Israel, saw images from the Rwandan genocide on television and felt she had to do something. She had never been to an African country, didn’t know anyone on the continent and had no experience in the world of international development. Undeterred, she bought a one-way ticket  to Africa and, once there,  founded an NGO working to reunite families torn apart by the civil war. She spent the next decade trying to help the people suffering in disasters around the globe.

In 2005, Gal founded Israeli Flying Aid (IFA) on the premise that nobody asks permission to kill, so she won’t ask permission to save lives. She and her team bring humanitarian aid to countries that have no diplomatic relations with Israel—where the consequences would be particularly brutal if Israelis were discovered on the ground. Recipients of aid from IFA will most likely never know Israelis were involved. Gal told me that people often ask her who her boss is and she answers, “My boss is my conscience.”

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Jordana Benami