Ran Harnevo
Ran Harnevo | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1975 Neve Monosson, Israel |
| Occupation(s) | Innovator, content producer, activist |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Known for | Co-founder of 5min Media and Homeis; founder of Yalla Tikva |
Ran Harnevo (; born 1975) is an Israeli innovator, content producer, and activist engaged in social and political causes. A former combat navigator pilot, he established the "Yalla Tikva" content collective that actively participates in the demonstrations opposing Israel's 37th government.
Biography
Harnevo was born in Neve Monosson in 1975 and completed his secondary education at Mikif Yehud High School. He served in the Air Force as a combat navigator and later took on roles as a flight instructor and commander of the navigation training course.
He studied philosophy and computer science at the undergraduate level while contributing writings to the "Bama Hadasha" website. Harnevo departed from academic pursuits to become a journalist and editor for the local newspaper "Tel Aviv," leaving after an interview with a senior minister was altered without his approval. Afterwards, he worked on a drone project within the aerospace sector focused on offshore drilling operations in Angola under IAI.
Between 2008 and 2021, Harnevo resided in New York City before returning to Israel. He is married and has two children.
Entrepreneurship
In 2006, Harnevo co-established 5min Media alongside Hanan Laschover and Tal Simantov. The company specialized in creating and distributing brief instructional videos across diverse subjects, serving as a video-centric encyclopedia. By 2008, it shifted focus toward a platform that linked video creators with publishers, greatly broadening its audience. AOL acquired the company in 2010 for $65 million, integrating it as a division where Harnevo held positions as vice president and later president of video content. Under his guidance, the division developed approximately fifty original shows, introduced the "AOL on" brand, and implemented an innovative syndication model. He left AOL in 2014.
In 2015, together with Ron Zuckerman and Uri Birnbaum, Harnevo launched Backstage (Bkstg), a mobile application designed to connect musicians directly with their fans. The venture ceased operations in 2016.
In 2017, Harnevo reunited with Hanan Laschover to create Homeis, a social networking platform intended to assist immigrant populations in securing employment and housing opportunities. Despite its novel concept, Homeis closed down in 2021.
Yalla Tikva and opposition to Israel's thirty-seventh government
After the establishment of the thirty-seventh Israeli government in December 2022 and its advancement of judicial reforms, Harnevo became active within the high-tech protest movement. In January 2023, together with Assaf Shapir and Michal Shapir-Klein, he founded "Yalla Tikva" (Let's Go Hope), a volunteer-driven content team creating and disseminating videos across platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, and WhatsApp. This group of editors, producers, creators, and programmers supports protests against the thirty-seventh government's judicial reform initiatives. Harnevo remarked that whereas Netanyahu "operates like a machine" distributing favorable information, their initiative aims to build a "hope machine," sharing authentic videos online to counteract misinformation.
Within "Yalla Tikva," Harnevo co-hosts the podcast Am Israel Hai (The Nation of Israel Lives) alongside actress Maayan Loeub.
During its initial four months, Yalla Tikva produced over 700 videos, enlisted 45,000 WhatsApp distributors, and achieved tens of millions of views. Their content spans professional productions to user-generated material with both informative and emotional tones. In May 2023, they initiated a crowdfunding campaign to expand the project into a major digital platform supporting ongoing protests. The effort raised upwards of 1 million NIS overall, including more than 500,000 NIS on its first day.
Harnevo’s involvement with Yalla Tikva earned him recognition on tech12 magazine’s 2023 list highlighting influential figures in high-tech content creation. He has been invited to speak at events connected to the protest movement, including the principal demonstration held at Kaplan on June 17, 2023.
On July 18, alongside protest leaders Professor Shikma Bressler, Moshe Radman, and Ami Dror, Harnevo helped organize a large-scale march traveling by foot from Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, protesting legislation proposed by the coalition aimed at limiting the scope of the reasonableness clause.
External links
- Ran Harnevo's Twitter Profile
- Thirty Minutes of Insight: Ran Harnevo – Entrepreneur and Former President of AOL Video
See also
- 2023 Israeli anti-judicial reform protests, a component of the 2023 Israel constitutional crisis, with leadership involvement from Ran Harnevo