Neil Rimer, liftconferencephotos from Geneva, Switzerland, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
One of the chairmen of Human Rights Watch, which recently released a report accusing Israel of apartheid, runs a venture capital fund that invests heavily in Israeli start-ups.
Neil Rimer has been a Human Rights Watch board member since 2009, and became co-chair of the organization’s international board of directors in 2020. At the time, he expressed a particular interest in the dangers of governments utilizing technological tools to abuse human rights.
Last week, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of apartheid for the first time in its history, and called on the UN to apply an arms embargo against Israel.
Rimer is also the founder of and a partner in Index Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Geneva.
His profile on the Human Rights Watch website features 11 companies he has worked with or invested in, none of which are Israeli.
However, Index Ventures’ website lists several Israeli companies that it supports, including MyHeritage, Outbrain, Lacoon and Adallom.
The Start-Up Nation Central database says Index Ventures invested in Israel as recently as March 2021. It was the leader of six investors in a $130 million round of funding for the company Wiz, and one of nine investors in Capitolis in a $90m. round of funding that month. In August 2020, Index Ventures was one of nine investors in a $200m. round of funding for Gong.io.
A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
A law school graduate, David Lange transitioned from work in the oil and hi-tech industries into fulltime Israel advocacy. He is a respected commentator and Middle East analyst who has often been cited by the mainstream media
