AIDIR Challenge to award $1M in honor of man killed while protecting girlfriend, 2 women on Oct. 7
HOBOKEN, New Jersey (WABC) -- A woman from New Jersey is striving to put an end to hate -- she is flipping the switch on technology that is often used to promote antisemitism and instead using it to promote peace.
Morielle Lotan is remembering her nephew, Addir Mesika.
"He was the kindest, most humble human being, friend," she said.
He was killed last year by Hamas terrorists in the October 7th attack on Israel, murdered while protecting his girlfriend and two other women.
He's the inspiration for the ADIR Challenge Foundation.
The mission is to innovate the combat of antisemitism and hate.
In the same way technology and social media have led to the proliferation of hate and anti-Jewish sentiment, Lotan hopes the ADIR Challenge can change the narrative and turn hate into an embrace.
"The kind of solutions we need have to do with AI machine learning even psychology in tech, how do you decrease feeling of the other and increase empathy," Lotan said.
The foundation, which is partly run out of her apartment in Hoboken, plans to award $1 million to innovators.
Tens of thousands of dollars have already been given out.
"For our first challenge we had 410 participants from 25 countries submit 120 ideas," she said.
Some of those ideas are already being incubated.
"It's a little like Noah's Ark, there's room for everyone. To find their place and that does give me comfort," Lotan said.
And perhaps, hope for a better future, which is what her nephew would have wanted.
"Addir and I connected a lot around technology and innovation," she said. "He wanted to do something in his life that involved how to solve big problems and making the world a better place because that's who he was."
His legacy may do just that.
ALSO READ: Israel marks 1 year since the October 7th Hamas attack
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