By Jon Sutz. Last updated 07 October 2021
(1) Summary
(2) Why I created ILoveIsrael, and how
(3) My limited ability to meaningfully contribute to the future development of ILoveIsrael
(1) Summary
I’m a multimedia designer, writer, creative consultant and strategist, based in Virginia.
Most of the early part of my career was focused on advertising, corporate communications and training applications, particularly using 2D and 3D still and animated visualizations, which I later applied extensively for law firms. Whenever possible, I’ve also lent my skills to a variety of established and start-up advocacy organizations, mostly related to championing individual liberty, free markets, and limited, constitutional government.
I’m also the son of a Jewish Holocaust victim, who I believe would be shocked and horrified by the spectacle of a day in which “67% of Jewish students on America’s college campuses report feeling unsafe, and 50% say they have hidden their religious identity to avoid physical or verbal attacks.”
It is for this reason that since 2009, I’ve applied my skills, whenever possible, to exposing anti-Semitism, especially when it is spread and incited by major media organs; see some of my work in this realm at:
Learn about me and my work at JonSutz.com.
I invested several years, and a not-insignificant amount of money, to create this, Version 1.0 of I Love Israel (“ILI”). Now, I am now seeking the funding to enable me to (1) Develop the I Love Israel business plan, (2) Retain a digital marketing firm to promote its Seed Capital Crowdfunding Campaign, and (3) Recruit the executive team and board that will take ILI into the future.
One of my favorite mottos, which helped drive me to create ILoveIsrael:
(2) Why I created ILoveIsrael, and how
Until 2006, I was unaware of, and not very concerned with Middle East affairs. I certainly was aware of the basic dynamics of their conflict, and had great admiration for Israel, and the Jewish people on whole, but was unaware of how incredibly biased many of the world’s most influential, advertiser-supported “news” organizations, “educational” institutions and “social justice” nonprofits were against Israel. I’d heard rumors to this effect, but was able to observe it, live and in real-time, after Hezbollah dragged Israel into a war in 2006.
I stumbled into this awareness, as a result of my inadvertent exposure hideous anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, pro-terrorist propaganda being published by the self-proclaimed “nonpartisan” news site, The Huffington Post. More on this in a moment.
This realization made me determined to find ways to use my analytical and creative skills to help expose and combat the mass incitement of hatred towards Jews & Israel.
Since then, I’ve produced an array of reports, documentary videos and infographics that have been hailed by experts in anti-Semitism and counter-terrorist propaganda. See some of this work at:
As the years progressed, every time I saw a news story, blog article or video about the reality of Israel, that so few people are aware of, I put the link into a dedicated bookmarks folder. Each year,the contents of that folder grew bigger and bigger, until, I began dreaming of taking the time to sift through the thousands of links, organize them into categories and sub-categories, and begin building web pages to house this information.
Finally, in late 2019, I began devoting some time each week to this task, but it was a long slog. My work continued as COVID set in, and the more I became familiar with the countless examples of Israeli innovation, benevolence & humanitarianism, it spurred bigger thinking on my part, that focused on one question:
(1) If all the information I was compiling was publicly available, why is it that I had never seen this kind of an “Encyclopedia Britannica” of it?
(2) What role does the absence of such a resource play in enabling such negative, incorrect perceptions of Israel to persist, and metastasize?
The result is the voluminous pages that you can see, under the “Why do people love Israel?” tab, in the menu above, which together form the initial “spinal column” of ILoveIsrael’s content.
My vision for ILoveIsrael is for it to become the world’s premier freely-accessible, purely positive resource by which to:
- Not just help to better defend Israel, but to champion her — proudly, passionately and publicly
- Arm Israel-loving journalists, activists, educators and artists with world-class knowledge tools and resources, to help them to efficiently convey to the general public, and specialized target audiences — on both a proactive and rapid-response basis — evidence-based insights on what makes Israel such an amazing, inspiring nation
- Learn about and connect with other Israel-lovers, around the world
To enable me to take an anticipated six months off my career to help set the stage upon which to turn ILoveIsrael into a funded, professionally-staffed, 501(c)3 nonprofit, I’ve organized the ILove Israel Seed Capital Crowdfunding Campaign.
My vision, and aspirations for ILI stem, in part, from Steve Jobs’ description of the most important life lesson he ever discovered:
(3) My limited ability to meaningfully contribute to the future development of ILoveIsrael
While I am highly competent at research, design, writing and strategy development, I have never created a nonprofit, have no experience leading an organization, nor do I have desire to.
There are people whose special ability is to lead, inspire and motivate people, in a teamwork environment. I am not one of them. Rather, I liken myself to what “Q” is to James Bond: meaning, the thinker behind the ultra-cool tools and weapons that enable Bond to execute his mission, in particularly hazardous environments.
For those who aren’t familiar with this dynamic:
I work to do the same thing, in the cause of liberty.
I have zero desire to be in the public spotlight (although may have to be, at times, for discussions, debates, etc.).
The best work environment for me is one that both enables and inspires me think through my mission, and devise the conceptual frameworks for ultra-cool knowledge tools and activism strategies — “ultra-cool” meaning, capable of not only being explained to and embraced the general public, but eventually being championed in pop culture.
In an age in which teamwork is emphasized as a cardinal virtue — and in many contexts, it absolutely is — I am an odd duck, but one who has a long history of delivering results.
Now you know why one of the most important objectives I must achieve during my six-moth employment contract will be to find and recruit the key executives who can take what I’ve created, and turn it into a real, global player, in the media war concerning Israel.
I also have other projects that are waiting to get into the pipeline of development, regarding Israel, and the cause of liberty, in general. My ultimate objective in the case of I Love Israel is to enable it to set sail, on its own, and with periodic counsel and possibly creative services from me, albeit from a distance.