Pioneering Update: Israel’s President Lauds Hinenu’s ‘Extraordinary Initiative’

Roee Azizi's dream of rebuilding and re-imagining Israel's most challenging regions is taking shape.

Hosting Israel’s President: Roee Azizi, the founder and head of Hinenu (second from left) with President Isaac Herzog and his wife, Michal, at the site of a planned Center for Pioneering in the Negev last week.

Dear Readers,

On April 23, I posted a piece here about a young Israeli, Roee Azizi, who left his home and job in Jerusalem last year, moved to the south of Israel and sparked a movement to help revive, sustain and strengthen communities near the Gaza border that were decimated by Hamas on October 7.

The piece on Azizi and the project he founded and heads, Hinenu (Hebrew for “we are here’) was titled “Introducing Israel’s 21st Century Pioneers.”

I’m happy to share a progress report on the remarkable achievements of the group in the last three months, highlighted by a visit last week from Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his wife, Michal, at Mitzpe Gvulot, the birthplace of pioneering in the Negev. The Herzogs met members of Hinenu and heard their vision for establishing a national Center for Pioneering at the historic site.

The center is being planned to serve as a training hub and incubator for bold initiatives led by young adults from across Israel and the Jewish diaspora. The visit held special significance: the last president to visit Mitzpe Gvulot was Chaim Herzog, the sixth President of Israel and father of the current President.

In welcoming the Herzogs, Azizi stated: “Young Israelis today are facing a crisis unlike any other. But precisely because of that, they are poised to become the visionaries who dream big and shape the future of Israeli society. We’re founding the Center for Pioneering to revive the spirit and action that built this country — and to carry forward the Zionist mission we inherited.”

In widening Hinenu’s scope, Azizi is calling on interested young Jews from Israel and the diaspora to join him and the hundreds of Hinenu pioneers already living their dream.

The Center for Pioneering is a joint initiative of Hinenu, in partnership with the Eshkol Regional Council and Kibbutz Gvulot. It will be Hinenu’s permanent home, offering educational programs and a social innovation incubator, empowering young adults from Israel and abroad to tackle local challenges, build community ventures, and help the Western Negev flourish.

President Herzog and Michal responded by hailing “this extraordinary initiative.”

“ We believe in the strength of your generation — the pioneers of today — who moved to the Western Negev after the October 7 tragedy to rebuild and make history,” they stated. “What you are doing here is truly inspiring.”

Azizi reported on the progress Hinenu, has made in recent months:

Northward expansion: Following national media coverage, “we began hosting gatherings for hundreds of individuals, couples, and families dreaming of relocating to the Galilee. The movement is already underway—some pioneers have recently settled in places like Amirim, Rosh Pina, and Kibbutz Dafna,” areas that were abandoned for much of the time since October 7, when residents were evacuated and put up in hotels and other temporary housing around the country.

Continued growth in the Western Negev: “We’re keeping the movement going,” Azizi noted, “while focusing on professionals in fields like social work, education, and healthcare to build resilient communities in our Otef (the Gaza envelope).

Azizi says Hinenu is his life’s mission, helping to create “a path forward for young people seeking to rebuild and re-imagine life in Israel’s most challenged regions,” the Negev in the south and the Galilee in the north.

Note: For more information on Hinenu, contact Azizi at roeeazizi51@gmail.com