Omri Bezalel

I wasn’t your typical Navy SEAL.

I failed my first attempt to get into the unit. Two weeks into training, I asked my commander to quit. I failed my diving tests and had to start over with a new team. I didn’t excel at anything.

But in almost two years of training, I was the only one who never missed a single drill. I showed up every day. And despite every setback and so-called weakness, I made it. I became a missile specialist in Israel’s elite Navy SEALs—fought in the Second Lebanon War, led missions in Gaza and Lebanon.

Some of the guys in my unit were born for it. I wasn’t. I was the introverted kid who made films in high school. If I was "meant" to serve anywhere, it was in the military’s film unit. But I chose the hardest path because I loved my country—and I wanted to test myself.

That experience taught me everything.

The race isn’t always won by the fastest runner—it’s won by the one who refuses to stop running. I’ve never stopped running. And that’s made all the difference.

Today, I’m an award-winning filmmaker, published author, and co-founder of Big Swell Entertainment, a film company based in Los Angeles. My novel Silent Waters explores the cost of war on love, friendship, and identity. My feature film LISTEN explores the psychological toll of moral decision-making in Israel’s intelligence world.

Though both were completed before October 7th, the war changed everything around them. International screenings and readings became political battlegrounds. Collaborators and publishers backed away. I learned, once again, what it means to stand by your work when the world doesn’t want to hear it—and why it’s more important than ever to keep telling the truth.

I use storytelling to bridge worlds that rarely meet: military and creative, Israeli and universal, trauma and healing.

What began as talks for Israeli teens preparing for military service has grown into keynotes and conversations at universities, synagogues, Jewish organizations, and creative communities around the world.