Gal, Israel

At the age of 26, I have already lived through 6 wars and major military operations, had my city bombed countless times, and lost loved ones in the October 7th attack. Being a military correspondent to the West Bank during my mandatory service in the IDF helped me better understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and today I am proud to say that I advocate for peace and coexistence with the Arab-Jewish organization Standing Together. In the current Israel-Hamas war, the discourse is fuelled by Anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate, and I believe that my experience can offer an inspirational perspective on such complicated conflicts.

Seeing the conflict with my own eyes as a journalist in the West Bank and being part of Standing Together made me realize that the Arab-Jewish communities that live in peace have one common thing: They have a reason to collaborate to achieve a common goal. Thus, I would like to be part of the HEC Imagine Club and initiate various projects to leverage business to bring peace to war-torn countries. I hope to arrange a peace and business summit on the HEC Paris campus: Bringing together students, faculty, and professionals to discuss the role of business in promoting peace and creating meaningful connections that could bring about collaborations that will benefit areas of conflict. In addition, as I believe that the best way to learn about a conflict is by talking to the actual people involved in it, I would like to organize study trips and meetups to help HEC students gain a deeper understanding of those conflicts and what initiatives could make a positive impact in those areas.