Get the Ricochet app
Ricochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.

3 Whisky Happy Hour
The Ricochet Podcast
GLoP Culture
Beyond the Polls with Henry Olsen
Giving Ventures
Mom Wars
3 Martini Lunch
Chicks on The Right
Parsing Immigration Policy
Federalist Radio Hour
What the Hell Is Going On
Freedom to Learn
Daily Signal
The Erick Erickson Show
The Learning Curve
The Conservative Woman’s Guide
Heritage Explains
Not Dead Yet
Who Funds that?
The Radio Free Hillsdale Hour
The Glenn Show
Call Me Back - with Dan Senor
Hillsdale Dialogues
Law Talk with Epstein, Yoo & Cooke
The Libertarian
The Report Card with Nat Malkus
The Kevin Roberts Show with Larry O’Connor
The American Idea
Madison’s Notes
Conservative Crossroads with Henry Olsen
The Back of the Book
Gray Matters
Martini Shot
The Dave Carter Show
The Powerline Show
In Dissent
Heard at Heritage
Smart Girl Politics
James Lileks’ The Diner
Case in Point: The Legal Show on the Hottest Legal Cases in Politics and Culture
JobMakers
One on One with Robert Doar
Homeschooling Journeys with Curious MikeRicochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.
Tired of the toxicity of social media? Why not join Ricochet for just $5/month? Think of it as an online bar. Come in, have a drink, hang out, say whatever you want. But don’t badger, bully, or berate the other drinkers. That's our only rule.

•Episode length: 50m
Episode length: 50m
As Americans mark Independence Day, we're revisiting one of the most popular episodes of "What's Your Number?" It's a conversation that feels even more relevant today. Yonatan Adiri and Yael Wissner Levy are joined by Dan Senor, host of Call Me Back and co-author of Start-Up Nation, a book which revolutionized the world’s respect for Israel and its entrepreneurial spirit and successes. Nearly two decades after the book's publication, Israel's tech sector is stronger than ever, yet the country's global brand faces unprecedented challenges. What does this mean for Israel’s reputation, innovation and its place in the world?
Dan also remembers his young friend, the late Israeli entrepreneur and investor Zaki Djemal, whose final essay on Israel's future and memorial service are linked below.
Read a tribute to Zaki Djemal and his white paper here.
Watch Zaki Djemal’s memorial service here.
____
Call Me Back is made possible by our subscribers. If these conversations are where you turn to understand Israel and the Jewish world, consider joining them. It's what keeps this show going.
Become a Subscriber - Inside Call me Back
____
In this episode:
08:00 – How Start-Up Nation changed Israel's image
14:35 – Israel's brand crisis after October 7
19:10 – Why global investors keep doubling down on Israel
25:55 – Does Israel need a new audience?
32:15 – The rise of defense tech
37:35 – AI, brain drain, and Israel's next challenge
44:30 – Does the "Start-Up Nation" reputation still apply?
46:55 – How would Dan characterize Israel's brand now?
More Ark Media:
Credits: Ilan Benatar, Beth Pearlman, Brittany Cohen, Ava Weiner, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Yuval Semo
Discussion