The aunt of an American-Israeli who was killed trying to protect others during Iranian-backed Hamas' terrorist attack last year, told Newsmax on Monday that she is honoring his heroism with an innovative way to stem the rising tide of antisemitism.
Morielle Lotan told "American Agenda" that through the ADIR Challenge Foundation, she is hoping to flip the switch on technology that is often used to promote antisemitism and instead using it to promote peace.
Lotan's nephew, Addir Mesika, 23, was at the Nova music festival in southern Israel when Hamas terrorists attacked on Oct. 7, 2023. Mesika, who was born in New York before his family moved to Israel, and others, including his girlfriend Yuli, fled to a field shelter to hide. But as Hamas terrorists approached, Mesika and a friend, Ilai Nahman, 23, reportedly left the shelter to confront the terrorists without any weapons. They both were murdered, but those left in the shelter, including Yuli, survived.
"I come from an entrepreneurship and technology background, so in my neck of the woods, we started a foundation that's focusing on innovating the fight against antisemitism and hate through running open innovation challenges," said Lotan, who is from Hoboken, New Jersey. "That has had a tremendous impact this year already.
"I know that every day that I get up to run the foundation, Addir would have cared and been very proud that we are doing something innovative to combat antisemitism and hate around the world and here at home."
Lotan said the fight against antisemitism needs a "new set of tools," and said the foundation's innovations go beyond just technological aspects.
"There have been a lot of efforts to educate," she said. "But I think that what we witnessed after Oct. 7 here at home in America was in many ways the strategic failure of asking the right questions and preparing against an enemy that for 30 years was doing a very good job at targeting [those] who are now college students on campuses.
"Innovation is also about technology and keeping pace and scope with what we're seeing in the digital world but also bringing new ways of thinking to a space, and the space being, how do we actually fight against antisemitism? How do we fight against the hate? We take a very specific view that antisemitism isn't going anywhere. This isn't just about Jews. This is about anti-American, anti-Western, [in] many ways anti-civilization as we know it, anit-values. The fight demands a new set of people, a new set of tools, and to be able to keep the pace needs to be technologically oriented."
As Monday marked the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attack, Lotan said she would like her nephew to be remembered as "the best friend and human being" who "continues to show up for everyone in their unique way." She said the foundation "opens an opportunity for people to show up in the best way that they can, and that's honoring his memory and his life."
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