Netanyahu’s new government will set Israel back, tech leaders warn
Mass letters to Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu are warning that the legislation his coalition partners are currently advancing will harm Israel’s flourishing tech industry and beyond.
Hundreds of Israeli tech executives and entrepreneurs sent a letter last week to Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu expressing concern over “the devastating consequences for the economy in general, and the high-tech industry in particular, that may result from the legislative processes taking place in the Knesset.” The signatories include founders of start-up companies, investors and managers of venture capital funds.
The unusual appeal to Netanyahu was prompted by a legislative blitz by his incoming coalition government that critics warn undermines the independence of the judiciary, erodes minority rights and endows ultranationalist and radical religious leaders as top ministers with sweeping new powers. The new laws would undermine confidence in Israeli democracy and “may deter the investors who have driven the growth of this great industry,” the writers warned.
Israel’s high-tech sector is a crucial economic growth engine, accounting in 2021 for about 12% of economic output and 10% of the workforce. Among the signatories are Nir Zuk, founder of the multinational cyber security company Palo Alto and Mellanox founder Eyal Waldman, who sold his company for a whopping $7 billion to Nvidia. There are also Chemi Peres, the founder of Israel’s largest venture capital fund Pitango, and the son of the late President Shimon Peres. A handful of other tech leaders mobilized by the Netanyahu camp have responded by expressing support for the emerging government.
Another letter is being circulated among hundreds of former Israel Air Force members to Netanyahu, Chief Justice Esther Hayut and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara expressing similar concerns. Also forthcoming is an appeal by leading university professors.
