CTech's Tuesday Roundup of Israeli Tech News

Airbnb contests claims of settlements ban reversal. Airbnb released a statement Monday calling reports saying it reversed the ban “inaccurate.” Read more  

Israel to fully tax IPO or exit-dependent employee options, in some cases. The Israeli tax authority now considers such options income, meaning employees could pay an income tax of up to 50% on options exercised instead of a capital gains tax of 25%. Read more 

Intel to expand operations in Israel. The company, which is the largest multinational operating in Israel in terms of investments and number of employees, expects to start the multi-year process in 2019. Read more

Work hard, play on your own time. Some Israeli startups choose to separate leisure from work, forgoing the gaming and recreation rooms associated with tech culture. Read more

India's Infosys divests a minority stake in cloud computing startup CloudEndure for $15.3 million. Infosys paid $4 million in cash in 2015 for a less than 20% stake in privately-owned CloudEndure, as part of the latter's series B. Read more

Spacecraft “Beresheet” to take Israeli national symbols to the moon. If successful, the mission will make Israel one of the first ever countries to soft-land a spacecraft on the moon, following the former Soviet Union, the U.S., China, and possibly India. Read more

Cloud security startup Avanan raises $25 million. Avanan offers organizations a cloud-based platform for monitoring and protecting employee usage of public applications. Read more

Appointed CEO of Virgin Atlantic joins Check Point’s board. Before joining Virgin Atlantic in 2014, Shai Weiss was an investment partner at the airline’s parent company, Virgin Management. Read more

Verint to pay $65 million for cloud company ForeSee. Subject to the closing of the transaction, the company updated its initial non-GAAP outlook for the next year by $20 million, to $1.345 billion. Read more

Israel announces designated embassy district in East Jerusalem. As more countries express willingness to move their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the Israeli Government is constructing an embassy hub on 25 acres. Read more