Antisemitism
Hackathon Organizer Rejects Unit 8200 Grad: 'What Happened in Lebanon Shouldn't Happen in California'
Israeli software engineer Adam Levy, who served four years in Unit 8200, was rejected from the hackathon as part of Tech Week 'for security reasons.' Organizer Mustafa Benhammed linked his participation to the explosion of Hezbollah pagers and communication devices in Lebanon. After the exchange was published, which garnered nearly 5 million views, Tech Week removed the event from the official schedule, and according to Levy, a16z removed its sponsorship of him.
· Source: N12. Photo as published in the article
Mustafa Benhammed, organizer of the hackathon as part of Tech Week in San Francisco, rejected Israeli software engineer Adam Levy, who served four years in Unit 8200, 'for security reasons,' and linked his participation to the operation to blow up Hezbollah pagers and communication devices in Lebanon.
According to the exchange published by Levy on X, which garnered nearly 5 million views, Benhammed, founder of startup PiT-Inference, wrote to him that hackathon participants carry pagers, smartphones and laptops, and does not want the IGF, as he called the IDF, to 'cause these electronic devices to explode in front of them and injure them.' According to him, 'what happened in Lebanon shouldn't happen in California. The security of our community comes first.' Levy wrote sarcastically: 'It turns out that Shabbat dinners are the only place where we can be accepted in San Francisco.'
The event was scheduled to take place on Oct. 6 at the Frontier Tower in San Francisco, and the registration page showed approximately 200 participants. After the publication, the official Tech Week account announced that the event was removed from the official schedule due to 'violation of terms of service,' but the registration page on Partiful remained active, and according to the report it is unclear if the hackathon itself was canceled.
Subsequently, Benhammed wrote to Levy publicly that he is 'still invited to join our next hackathon in Tel Aviv, at the Azrieli Center,' and Levy replied 'Is that a threat?' and tagged IDF and Mossad accounts. The TRACE Initiative organization claimed that Benhammed runs an anti-Israel Telegram group, claims that according to the report have not been independently verified.
Levy said that a16z, among other funds that approached him, 'expressed regret about the incident and removed their sponsorship of him.' According to him, 'first of all I am proud of my background,' and in Unit 8200 he built AI 'to protect Israeli citizens in wars with Iran.'
Source: N12
