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Israel's tourism industry declines while tech sector surges

While hotels, factories and small businesses in Israel are suffering in the current round of fighting, the Israeli "startup nation" is still flourishing.
Tourists sit at a lookout point on the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem's Old City May 25, 2011. The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's Old City is seen in the background. Palestinians and Israelis alike saw little prospect of a fresh start to Middle East peace talks on Wednesday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's keynote speech to Congress. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM - Tags: RELIGION TRAVEL) - RTR2MVI2
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As the latest fighting between Israel and the Gaza Strip enters its 10th day on July 17, hundreds of rockets have been fired at Israel and hundreds of tons of explosives have been dropped on Gaza. There is still no solution. Though discussions on a cease-fire take place in the background, both parties are still searching for their own “victory image.” In the dire reality of endless sirens and concern for the welfare of the children during the summer break, the Israeli economy is trying to function normally and relay the sense of "business as usual."

And yet, when it comes to the local high-tech industry in the “startup nation,” it really is business as usual. Anyone perusing the high-tech sections of the local economic press would think the stories are taking place in some other country, and a tranquil, peaceful country at that. To illustrate this, here is a brief selection of headlines from the past few difficult days of the conflict: Neebula Systems from Hod HaSharon was sold to the American ServiceNow company for $100 million; Microsoft is in negotiations to purchase the Israeli cybersecurity firm Aorato; Israel’s JFrog raised $7 million from VMWare and Gemini; and Zooz — a company that deals with online payments — closed a $12 million round of funding.

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