Bloomberg TechTech CEOs on Israel's Front Lines, Navigating Turmoil in Israel
Bloomberg's Ed Ludlow and Caroline Hyde speak to venture capitalists and business owners operating in Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war. Plus, how to invest amid geopolitical uncertainty.
From mahard of where Innovation, Money and Power Collie in Silicon Valley, NBN. This is Bloomberg Technology with Caroline Hyde and Ed lud Love.
I'm Caroline Heine, Blomberg's world headquarters.
In New York, and I met Ludlow in San Francisco. This is Bloomberg Technology.
Coming up.
We'll bring you the latest updates from the Israel Hamas war, as fighting continues for a third day.
Everything we know ahead, and we'll.
Speak with technology executives who own and operate businesses in Israel for thee.
On the ground and what it means for Israel's tech.
Sector, as we'll look at what heightened geopolitical tensions mean for investors as markets face fresh volatility.
But first we will get you the latest updates.
Coming out of the Israel Hamas War. We want to go to our water on the ground, remogs Gallett Alstein, and is wonderful to have some time with you, Gallet and just bring us up to speed with just where you are and how it's all occurring at the moment.
What's the latest?
Yeah, so actually we're seeing us some development here today. I would say basically on three or four arm fronts all slightly different than one another. So on the southern front, where the attacks have been taking place since Saturday, we're all seeing the area more contained. Quite surprisingly, there are still infiltrations of attackers from Hamas from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza vicinity inside Israel, but we're seeing a lot less of that, and basically I would say that the entire area over there is now under control in that sense, in the sense of the infiltrations that we've been seeing over the last two days, the communities and the settlements that are very close to the Gaza offense, about twenty four settlements or being evacuated at this time of the residents. Another development we're seeing today over the last few hours is on the northern front. It is not major at this time, but that is something that is definitely attracting a lot of attention because you know, of the big questions now is whether Bala, on account of Iran, will be joining in, you know, with with the Gaza attentions and what is coming up there. So yeah, so so so so that has been escalating, but but a little bit. It's it's very it's very contained at this time, and it's nothing major, but but but it is.
Happening, Jalit.
What has been the government response Prime Minister Nsna who over the weekend had talked with the political opposition about a wartime government across party wartime government.
Yeah, so so that is still definitely on the tables. There have been some talks to day between a team on account of Prime Minister in Attaliao and teams that are negotiating on behalf of opposition parties, mainly the party led by opposition leader Benny Gantz. So so so they're still talking talking about that.
We do not know where it's going.
It does look like there is a fair chance of that happening, especially with with the complex situation in Israel that has been very divided over the past few months over a government proposed judicial overhaul. So now to form a government, uh like that would sort of mean also, you know, in the sense of public opinion that you know Israel is putting all the differences aside and uniting in the front against the Hamas. So so that is still on the table and we're still waiting to see developments on that.
All right, bloombergs gallet Austein, thank you very much. Let's get right to it now with Target Global partner Shmiel Chafets, who's joining us live from Israel, and Schmil, I want to explain to our audience what they're they're looking at, what they're about to hear. You are a venture capitalist normally based in Tel Aviv, but overnight you've volunteered to be a reservist by virtue of you being too old to be conscripted. I think I'm right in saying, and you have already been deployed. As best you can, just explain what you're doing.
I think, unfortunately a muted thank you.
I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, Unfortunately I'm a bit too old to get called up to my usual unit.
But I did find myself.
Some something useful to do, and I've been doing it since this morning, with many many others.
So Shmiel, you're avenge capitalist that invests in Israeli startups. But I guess that the question this stage is why have you done this? Why have you felt compelled to put aside your day job and take on a deployment.
I think we're in a war.
This is a different situation than anything we've seen for fifty potentially for seventy five years Saturday was the bloodiest day in probably in Israeli history, Bloodier than any day.
In the Yom Kipoor War in the War of Independence.
Hundreds if not more of soldiers, but women, children, elderly people were killed in their beds in what is undisputedly Israeli territory. And I think, as in Israeli, it is my duty to all of our duty to come and protect our country this. I'm doing this for my kids because this war will be a big part of determining the country that they will live in.
And this will not be I don't think this is going to be another operation like we've been accustomed to. This is a war.
It is a war of different magnitude than what any of us I think have seen in at least in my memory.
Well, this is a story of people, of family, of your children, as you cite.
This is a story also.
Of people trying to build economically, and indeed a time that you are someone that wants to see a thriving startup community, one which I think you have twenty four portfolio companies. It's hard to talk about business in a moment such as this, but how are you thinking about what this does to an economy, to the people who want to build.
I think that what we're seeing today in Israel is the reason that Israel has been so successful as a startup nation.
We're seeing hundreds of thousands of people.
Getting out of their lives, getting into uniform in moments, and people have been just rushing into military service.
They're actually in most of the phone calls that I'm getting there.
About people being turned away trying to find a spot somewhere to go and fight.
And a part of this, this is the social cohesion.
This is the spirit of entrepreneurship that makes Israel successful as a startup nation, is what we're seeing today.
I think this is an.
Integral part of Israel actually, and I think one of the reasons that we will come out of this stronger and better the fact that this is really a civic society that knows how to how to also fight. And many of our portfolio companies, the CEOs developers are now fighting in different in different areas, and I think it's the way it's going to be.
But when we get back to work, we'll get back full force.
How are you using technology right now to inform yourself to stay connected.
Well, luckily we have a good five G everywhere as real as a small country, so we have the luxury of being in a warzone.
It has good, good enough coverage to do a video.
Call as sure.
And on that No, I just remind our audience that you're coming to us in military attire. You've volunteered for a deployment, but you are a bench capitalist. You know, you talked about some of the phone calls that you're getting, be it friends or industry partners.
You have Israeli colleagues who.
Are working at Target but deploying capital in Europe, in America. Do you think that any of your friends or partners, or indeed portfolio founders will come from overseas abroad back to Israel to join you in the initiative that you are taking.
Yeah, I think many are.
We've helped organize some planes for reserve soldiers who want to get back, and then many people are crowding the airport and the airport's trying to get back and help. And also we're getting a lot of support from our from Israeli, from our Jewish but also from our non Jewish friends and colleagues.
In Europe, in the US in the Middle East.
We're offering condolences, support and help them.
So we're seeing a lot of outpart.
I think people do understand that this is a very unique situation, probably once in a generation.
Sorry to interrupt you, Caroline summarized it completely right that it's difficult to talk about business and operating right now. But what happens to your portfolio companies? Can you deploy capital? Is there a need to sort of deploy capital because of the situation in Israel and helping those companies continue to operate or are they able to continue with some normalcy.
So I think Israel is very good.
At continuing to operate normally in abnormal situations. And as far as the portfolio companies are concerned, you know, everybody have made arrangements to try to keep the businesses running, to have a business continuity. You know, CEOs have been called up, have been signing resolutions all morning, getting the new signatories set of CEOs that have joined, and I think we have definitely some people are now going to join up and will continue to work, and our colleagues abroad will come into work, so I think we will be able to operate close to normal as close to normal as possible.
Even during the war.
It's one of the things that happens in Israel because we are unfortunately useless. It happens not in this magnitude that has happened before. Our companies have plans for it, and they'll continue to operate.
Business continuity, something unfortunately that you've had to understand and prepare for. And to that note, we had, of course galet Elstein on Elstein just a moment ago talking about the divisions in internal politics of late within Israel. How much has that affected business? How much has that affected the flow of money coming into Israel of late, if at all.
I think that.
It has affected, of course affected the Israeli economy. But I think it's absolutely not the time to deal with it right now is time for national unity. Now is the time to put our divide behind us and just to go to a fight.
Smill from a unity standpoint that there are many global technology companies. Intel, for example, has twelve thousand people in Israel. They've made commitments to expand their fab way for fab manufacturing footprint there. But do you worry about the sort of long term attitude that global tech players who do have a really heavy footprint in your country. Now, now take how they view Israel.
First of all, I hope they're view their commitment is long term, and I hope they'll understand that Israel still has a lot of unique talent to offer unique capabilities in the tech space.
And I'm sure that once, once this ends, and it may take some time, but it will end.
And we will win, they'll be back for force operating here.
As they have for many years. I mean, Intel's been here.
Through a lot and they've still thought it was worthwhile to continue to invest and I'm sure they will continue to do so in the future, as.
Will you have.
Of course, just been talking about the ecosystem. What makes entrepreneurial spirit different in Israel? Do you worry about talent the flow of talent? Do you ever concern yourself that people aren't like you, that they don't return to deploy money to make their headquarters within an Israel based business.
I want to tell you that I think when we spoke last I think we talked a little bit about the political issues in Israel, and I think there was a flow of talent out of Israel. But I think after this there'll be a flow of talent back, because I think in the Israelis feel committed to this country, and when it is in trouble, they return, and I think there'll be a flow of talent back, not out of this, not out of his room.
After the stands.
You're referring to the reaction to the judicial reforms and the debate that that causing the country. Just very quickly before we let you go, will you continue doing deals?
Target Global?
Will you continue with rounds that you had in the works prior to the weekend's attack.
Will continue.
We have a big international team and our team will continue to work as as normal. We have a great team and a strong partnership. Will continue to work in the well. Each do our well, each do our bit. But we will continue and we're going to continue to meet all of our commitments to every Israeli company and continue to support our purporting throughout and at the same time, we're going to give resources to support people who need our help.
Yeah, there are.
A lot of Smill chae Fetes, Schmill Chaffetes of Target Global. We're very grateful for your time. You know, to our audience, you're joining us on deployment. You volunteered as a result. But your your day job is as a VC and we thank you for bringing us that venture capital perspective on literally on the ground.
Thank you very much, Caroline, thank you for having me across the macro and the micro.
There's so much still to discuss, particularly on the market impact. We have Tom Slater, who's head of US Equities at Bailey Gifford joining us next on the program. This is Bloomberg Technology.
It is a day of geopolitical tension, is a day of volatility that's heightened in the markets and the impact that that has on or tech globally and indeed appetite for risk.
But we're going to move into.
How the implications are testing investor appetite right now with one key investor, Tom Slater, as head of US Equities over at Bailey Gifford. And Tom, we want to go broad with you and the holdings that you have and the tactics that you deploy with Bailey Gifford. But on a moment where we do see more of course, between Israel at the moment and Hamas, how are you thinking about that implicating some of the companies with which do business in the area, and whether or not it does change your sentiment on technology, writ large.
Well, I think it's obviously a dreadful situation, but actually understanding what the long term implications of what's happening will be is just going to take time. And so the starting point from my perspective is that you just take your time and ask the question what's really going on here?
And actually reacting trying.
To think you know better than the market and the short run is not the right way to generate returns for your clients.
Tom A question posed on Bloomberg Television throughout the day has been defense stocks or defense technology stocks and how much I guess of a knee jerk reaction it would be to think about that as a sector.
What is your attitude towards event?
Well, I think we own no defense stocks as the starting point, but I think you can see that there is clear pressure for NATO countries to increase their spending on this area.
You know that.
They have clearly been shortages in a number of areas that is going to require a structurally higher level of spend.
So there is an interesting argument there.
But I think as you in the way you ask the question about technology, I think one of the things that we've learned in in Ukraine over the past eighteen months is that actually things.
Have moved on a lot.
Whether we're at drones as an example of that, in the way that wars have been fought. So actually, as in most other areas, thinking carefully about how technology kind of have transformational impacts is just as important in defense as it is elsewhere. It's not about sort of taking that top, top down view and making an allocation.
Tom.
Talking of allocation, we're looking at some of the key holdings that you have. Of course, a trade desk shop of I in Vidia, Amazon, I.
Mean in Vidia, of course an extraordinary.
Rocket ship to have been aligning yourself with of late when that comes to elements of AI, but also geopolitically encircled. When we think about it, it's exposure to China. How do you discern which companys the ones which you want to be seeing emboldening and indeed allocating money towards well.
I think if you stick with that example of Nvidia, we bought the stock in twenty and sixteen and we've been holders of continuously since, and the investment thesis is around the application of their technology. And if you go back to twenty sixteen. Yes, there's this opportunity in AI, but it's also in the data center, in self driving vehicles, in ARVR, so a technology which has really broad application. And then where you find a company that addresses such a big opportunity, The question is really how do you hold onto it?
Because yes, you take this.
As an example of one we've done well, and that in that intervening seven years, it's actually been a really quite difficult stock to hold on to. I think the peak to trough decline from twenty one to twenty two was sixty six percent. So how do you endure losing two thirds of your money through that period of ownership?
And that is.
Really about hold discipline. You know, the market likes to talk about sell discipline. Why do you sell a stock that always seems back to front to me? I think the discipline is in being able to own it through those difficult periods where your investment thesis, where your assessment of the upside is unchanged. And so that's I think the crucial characteristic of the way that we invest on behalf of our.
Clients, Tom and Caroline. A piece of news overnight by the way Nvidia canceled its AI summit which have been scheduled for October fifteenth and sixteenth in Tel Aviv, and Jensen Huang was due to give a keynote. So just sort of updating our audience on there makes you think about supply chain. Let's go back to Israel, Tom. You know Intel had talked about expanding way for fab operations there. There's talent there. On Autonomy mobilized its biggest company by market.
Cap or US listed. Is there a supply chain story here?
Well, I think that the big supply chain story in semiconductors has really been driven domestically in the US with the inflation reduction acts, and what I observe is a huge amount of investment now going in into this crucial and particularly sensitive area to drive a much more.
Local supply chain. And I think that's it's much.
More complex than just adding capacity because there's there's all the training and upskilling that you need to do to because of that. But I think this is what the of the events of the past few days are just another example of why that is so important.
Strategically for the US.
And then it's thinking through, well, who are there, who are the beneficiaries there, who are the ones that can actually enable that policy. Because when there is so much investment going in, it's always interesting to follow the money. Where are the opportunities being created? And I think domestically in America that's that's one of that's really interesting.
Tom Slater, Belly Gifford. We follow the money here on Bloomberg Technology as well. Thank you for your time.
Well, amid the start of Israel Hamas War, historic meeting occurred actually in China between President hy Jumping and Buy Batteris and group of US lawmakers that by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Let's get more context, Kaylee Lines standing by in Washington, and Israel was discussed.
It was Chuck Schumer, the Senator Democratic Majority leader, pushed China to strengthen their language around what Hamas had done in Israel.
He said.
He pointedly asked them to do so, and they did indeed strengthen their segment statement.
But that isn't all that this visit was about.
It also was really about economics. Chuck Schumer in this meeting with shijhiin Ping, the first time Shiji Ping has met with US senator since twenty fifteen. Mind you said that this really was about ensuring economic reciprocity, and he said that they feel China must provide a level playing field for American companies and workers, echoing what we've heard from the Lakes of Commerce Secretary Gina Ramondo.
All right, Bloombo's Katie lines out of DC, thank you, welcome back to BlueBag Technology.
I'm Canninehid in New York and.
I med love Low in San Francisco.
And let's just get up to speed with some of those headlines at Israel. Hamas Woll we want to bring on a BlueBag national security report to Nick Wadams. Many shocked by the surprise with which this took Israel and the nation and the world.
But what is the latest headlines that are capturing your attention?
Well, the big ones really are so obviously you have Israel going on the offensive in Gaza, calling up three hundred thousand troops. I mean, we are looking at a full mobilization by Israel to neutralize the threat coming from Gaza amid new missile strikes and continued violence. But you know, there are already bigger questions being asked, chiefly among them, how did Israel not see this coming?
I mean, when you have.
Five thousand missiles or so being shot into Israel. Where were the intelligence services in terms of seeing these missiles being put into place? How did they not detect the incursion?
That when?
And there was that big massacre and then all the hostage taking, and then you're starting to see the issue of Okay, now Hamas has these hostages, So what happens next in terms of negotiations to try to secure their release. So we are very much still in the early days of this thing, trying to see where it will head. But obviously some of the big questions already being asked on how it happened in the first place.
I'm going to have a former deputy National Security Advisor of Israel joining us a little age from the show, Nick, But I'm interested in the broader ramifications the other proxy wars that potentially have sparked. I don't want in any way theorize that that's what's occurring. But what are you thinking about what this ripple effect is?
Well, the big question obviously is Iran. There's a lot of talk that Iran gave the green light to this operation, but there are bigger questions being asked to about the extent of their involvement, how detailed their involvement was, and then you know the broader issue of normalization. The US has been pushing the interests of normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. What's the future of that conversation. We are hearing that players in the regions such as UAE, Bahrain and others are determined to press ahead with the Abraham Accords that were signed under former President Trump, and there has been some momentum, but you know, one source telling me, you know, it's going to be messy, but we are determined to see that go ahead. So there is the question then of what is the backlash against Hamas if this is going to bring folks together in the region and say, okay, we want to continue with this, or is it going to cause that to splinter. And right now, at least it looks like there is some momentum to try to keep those conversations on track, but obviously again very early days.
Nick.
A technology story is the defense system that Israel deploys, which is iron Dome, and I think I'm rightly saying that Israel has made a request of the United States to help resupply them with munitions for Iron Dome. What is the latest there.
Well, we know that Congress was briefed by the administration on this, and there is obviously broad bipartisan support to make sure that Israel gets all of the munitions that it needs to keep Iron Dome resupplied. But you know, there are other needs that Israel has, such as artillery munitions and precision guided weaponry. So the question then there is, well what does this mean for the Ukraine War.
There's a lot of talk that stocks were.
Running low for Ukraine and allies were scrambling to come up with supplies to keep the Ukrainian Army with the munitions that it needs. So it's not really a question of funding, but there is going to be a question of supplies, and obviously the Administration's focus in the immediate term is on Israel, and everybody's trying to sort out, Okay, well what does that mean for Ukraine, especially in the long run, So you know we're going to be pressing away and trying to figure out those questions. But certainly a tension there between the needs from both Israel and Ukraine.
Bloomberg's Nate Wadams all across the national security story around this, thank you very much. Let's go back to technology and what is happening on the ground in Israel. Joining us now is Papaya Global CEO one of the founders, Ana Goez, And just in the first instance, you run one of Israel's most valuable startups. You have a big footprint in the country. What is it that you're doing right now? Are your people safe and how have you responded to the events of the weekend.
Yeah, thanks a lot for having me as well. I mean, honestly seece Saturday, which was a holiday for us as well. We are all full time serving the country first and assuring that we can support everything the country needs in terms of the efforts. It's important to understand that this is not a regular situation as we sometimes face in Israel. We are facing terror currently, it's our on nine eleven, we are eventually facing our own isis our.
War against the Homas.
Everything that we are doing on the tech sector, quite on the civilization kind of stage, is helping people that lost their houses, Helping people that eventually have family members' kids that has been taking hostages, helping soldiers to get to their base, helping everything that we can, raising funds, helping logistics. I mean, the civil efforts currently in the country are enormous, are amazing, and this is mainly.
What we're doing.
This is our day job, unfortunately since yesterday, and this will probably win our day job until things go back to track.
And we had a benchure capitalist from Target Global joining the top of the show saying, unfortunately, you know, Israeli is often are able to be prepared for these sorts of situations. You say that this is an unpresent at the moment for you. But having been founding your business back in twenty sixteen, I understand you got seven workers globally, but how many of them are based in Israel and what sort of business continuity preparedness do you have when you are building businesses within Israel.
So first, we have about one thousand employees in Papaya, about three hundred of them are currently based in Israel. I would say that about currently fifty or sixty of them have been called to military service, and quite a lot of them have family members, kids or spouses that has been called military service. Obviously, I mean, as any other company in Israel, we always have contingency plan. I think that the state of every Israelid founder is to assure that we always have plans for the following day, We always know how to operate, and honestly, I mean we get an amazing support currently from our workers around the globe, from our clients around the globe, in order to assure that the business operation is going as normal. Unfortunately, you know, especially in Papaya, we have also team in Ukraine, so we've been in a way kind of trained to take over their responsibilities about a year.
And a half ago.
Now they are the one.
Feeling the needs for us and eventually kind of taking responsibilities from us. People in Israel are highly motivated, highly engaged. I see people are answering their emails during the day, during the night. But honestly, I mean our hearts currently in our mind is first taking care of the country, taking care of the people around us. Israel is a small country, is a small population. I have to say that I don't think that the death and the whrror will pass any single any single family in this country these days, and this is a heartbreaking, honestly days horrible days for Israel.
And I'm sure that the audience share that with you. One of the reasons we asked you to come onto the program. Is that prior to the events of the weekend, you have been vocal about the judicial reforms in Israel and asking questions about what it meant for the technology sector long term. I believe you took some action moving company assets out of Israel in response to the judicial reforms.
My question is what will you do next for.
The operations of your business based on the weekends events? Do you intend to remain in Israel going forward?
Yes, asy as our armies ray as our country. As we did in the last year, we always said that eventually we want to keep Israel a democratic country in order to assure that we can actually grow our business here, not to take it out of Israel. We are very proud of Israelis. We want to build Israeli companies. Obviously, we always build all companies. It's because Israeli is such a small market anyhow, and we always have global footprints.
But nothing will change.
In terms of our operation in Israel.
We are here currently to do a very big efforts to fight for the freedom of this country, to bring things to normal. To obviously that leave the day after after those horror kinds of events and news and tons of death and people that have been lost in the last few days, but it does not affect us from being an Israeli eventually kind of a business and a company.
And moreover, I do.
Hope that the day after this terror will go back and people will understand that the most important thing in is Well is for us to be unite, is for us to remain a democratic country and to stop the internal conflict that has been cheering this country for so many months internally, and it's time to just eventually put them aside and go back to normal. I mean, we are one nation and I think everybody understand that we need.
To be unite.
Thank you so much for sharing your story, for really making the human side marry with what it is your longtime vision abuilt within Israel.
PAPAA glob We'll see you. We thank you in it.
Go as, stay stay ed, A lot mores come here on Bloomberg Technology.
We'll have more headlines.
From the sector, a big interview as well coming up.
This is Bloomberg.
Technology another Amazon Prime Day, Big Deals Day. It's cool and the tech giant is planning to bring customers the right deals and faster.
And that's no easy task. We took a look at just how they're doing that.
This Prime Day is getting more personal, so expect to see more deals based on your shopping history. Amazon says these kind of personalized deals led to all times more cust engagement during the last Prime Day, so for this sale, Amazon is doubling down with the help of larger, more advanced AI algorithms, learning what customers are shopping for and predicting what they'll want next. Amazon is also trying to get your purchases to you faster. We visited a same day delivery site in Richmond, California, about thirty minutes east of San Francisco, to see how sites like these are smaller than Amazon's fulfillment centers and located closer to larger metro areas. This facility can pick an item and get it boxed up in about eleven minutes, about an hour faster than an traditional fulfillment center. That's thanks to the help of these yellow pods and blue switches. They run on items that are stored and cataloged electronically, making it easy for employees to find the item and pick it. That package gets sent on a conveyor belt to a delivery sorting area of the site in a regular for fillment center, that's an entirely different building. Here, there's just a few steps away, so you can get the deal the same day.
You order it.
The most popular.
Items delivered for same day sites are every day essentials like batteries, air pods, and espresso coffee pods. Amazon plans to build more of these smaller same day facilities in the next few years to speed up delivery times.
Behind the scenes, I think we've got some good insight into producer piles of various wish list for water bottles and thermos flasks. Let's get right to what's happening on the ground and bring in Jamil Ghani, Vice president of Amazon Prime. You, Andy Jesse, other executives have been talking a lot about regionalizing. Regionalizing fulfillment basically the idea that the package that lands in your doorstep has come from closer, traveled less.
Is it working that strategy. Yeah. Absolutely.
We've been very excited to see that it gets the right product to the right customer faster than ever before, and that package is traveling less distance, so we're able to reduce that time from click to deliver, which our customers love.
What's in herculean effort does that take, Jamil, I'm sorry, what sort of effort, what sort of investment, what sort of focus has that taken to just whittle down that timeframe with which you can get your package to you?
Yeah, what we've done is make sure we have the right inventory and the right build all around the country. That we then make sure our site highlights that selection that customers can get. We use recommendations and personalization, including what we're going to be doing on the tenth and eleven with prime big deal days, to make sure that that product is highlighted to customers. And then the processes in the fulfillment centers have been simplified. It's fewer over the road miles, and so that's what's really the difference of getting your packaged the same day.
And how much is that the focus of a consumer.
It's interesting that we're talking about rising competition, whether it's coming from Timu, whether it's coming from China more broadly, but some of those packages take time. Is that the sort of winning formula to ensure that these new entrants do take too much away from you in terms of market share?
You know, I think it's a good question, but Our focus is really on customer needs.
Prime started with a very simple promise, you know, a million items available in two days, no limits guaranteed, and that those expectations have only increase over time. I've got two young kids at home, and I know when we find that we're out of something, where we need something, or we need to shop for that birthday happening tomorrow, you just want to get from you know, need to solution as quickly as possible. So that's what's really driving us, and the same day facilities are taking that to the next level.
You know, customer needs.
There is a question of whether one really does ever need something. And this is really an AI machine learning story because I assume that data is based on the user, right, their habits, their.
Spend their history.
That's right, So how does personalization result in them actually buying stuff that they haven't already bought before in the past.
The way we think about it is we want to combine your purchase history, your browsing history, and then other engagement you have on the site, like engagement with lists.
All of that information comes together.
We add shopping trends, you know, what's really relevant in the season we're going into the holidays now, so Prime Big Deal Days is pulling all that information together and highlighting that selection. It's going to certainly highlight things that we know customers are going to like based in their past behavior, but we also intelligently want to surface up those things that they might discover, they might like, and might be inspired by. It's a combination of needs and wants, which I think makes for a great shopping experience. And that's what the event starting tomorrow is going to be all about.
All things considered, the macro environment, the time of year, because timing with Prime Windows has changed. How big will this one be? Can you say with any confidence this will be the biggest.
I can't ever predict how we'll go, but I know that everyone is looking to Carolina and I no one else is checking in. I think that we've got fantastic deals and it will be the most personalized experience we've ever had. Two or three years ago, we had one personalized deal feeds. Tomorrow, our customers will enjoy forty different personalized deal feeds. The homepage will be curated. Your homepage will be different than my homepage. Will also be recommending top brands. I mean might like four plus Star deal events that you might like, and so I think what you're going to find is that day felt really curated. This is going to feel even more so in the event starting tomorrow.
Jamie Oldarnie, thanks for the time, Vice President of Amazon Prime.
We thank you. We returned to our coverage of the Israel Hamas War. Professor Chuck Frelick is a former.
Deputy National Security Advisor in Israel and wrote the book Israel and the Cyber Threat, How the startup nation became a global cyber power. And we are being asked time and time again, Professor, how Israel missed this?
Was it a tech story?
No?
I don't think this was a tech story. I think this is a classic case of the colossal intelligence failure. It starts from, like all major intelligence intelligence failures, from a failure of imagination. You don't believe that your enemy has the capability to do something, and so you don't see the signs when it's happening.
What could have been improved upon from your perspective, and indeed, what will be being used now to assess a threat level?
Well, I think that there will be a deep investigation of the reasons for the failure, But most of that will have to remain after the war is over. What happened here is just something unprecedented in Israel's history, where Israeli territory was Israel itself, not the West Bank Settlement, Israel itself was occupied for a while a britief while and people take in hostage. This cannot be allowed to happen and will have to take measures to make sure it doesn't. It's going to be a protracted and unfortunately bloody war in Gaza, but it's one that Israel has to end this time, I think with a resounding victory. It can't be just a basis for some more time until the next round.
Our time is too short with you.
But if you go back to your time as Deputy National Security Advisor, advice right now to the leadership.
That there has to be an absolutely conclusive victory this time, and that's probably going to mean occupying most of Gaza for a while, not long term.
Usual doesn't want to be in charge of Gaza.
Again, and it's going to mean trying to topple Ramas, and that also then begs the question, well, who takes over if Ramas isn't there, And that means Hopefully, maybe with international health American help sau the involvement, maybe we can see the Palestinian authority reinstated in Gaza.
Professor, thank you so much for your time, your expertise. Professor Chuck Vilik, wish we had more time. We thank you for joining us from New York and San Francisco. This is Bloomberg Technology
