Israeli Engineer Barred From San Francisco Hackathon Over IDF Past
An Israeli software engineer was barred from a San Francisco hackathon over his past IDF service, sparking widespread backlash and removal of the event from Tech Week.
An Israeli software engineer, Adam Levy, was rejected from a hackathon in San Francisco after the event's organizer linked his participation to Israel's military operations and intelligence history.
Incident Details
Levy, who served for four years in Unit 8200 of the IDF, shared screenshots of his correspondence with the organizer, Mostafa Benhanda. The organizer explicitly cited security concerns related to electronic devices, referencing past operations against Hezbollah communications equipment in Lebanon.
"The participants carry pagers, smartphones, and laptops, and we do not want the IDF to cause these electronic devices to explode in their faces," Benhanda wrote to Levy.
Platform Response
The post quickly garnered hundreds of thousands of views on X (formerly Twitter). Following the public backlash, the official Tech Week account announced that the event had been removed from its official schedule for violating terms of service.
Despite the removal from Tech Week, the registration page remained active. Benhanda later posted publicly inviting Levy to a future event, drawing further criticism and satirical commentary online.
