The Israeli government is leading the economy and tech to catastrophe

On Saturday night, in a demonstration against the planned reform in the judicial system, the streets of Tel Aviv were colored with a multitude of emotions. There was anger, fear, great hope for change.

Among the many thousands of demonstrators there were also quite a few businesspeople, entrepreneurs, and investors.

Conversations held by Calcalist with dozens of them revealed the same feelings, and testified to a real concern about the direction in which the legal reform and other measures by the government are taking us.

Demonstration in Tel Aviv against the legal reforms.

Some of them admitted that they are afraid to be interviewed, to speak out loud. They made it clear how dependent they are on the government, on tenders, on budgets, on regulators, and how much they currently fear, not only for democracy, the state of the country and the economy, but also for the businesses they are leading, which provide for a great many people. This in itself is a clear sign of damage to democracy: people with a lot of power and capital who are afraid to criticize the conduct of the government, lest they be harmed.

And yet there were also dozens of brave men and women who refused to give in to this fear, who felt the need to say, most clearly and explicitly, that we are indeed in a pivotal moment, and that we must speak up. The State of Israel is important to them. They can be good advisors. It is worth hearing them out.

Interviews by: Diana Bahor-Nir, Sophie Shulman, Moshe Gourli, Meir Orbach, Yuval Sade, Dotan Levy, Yuval Azoulay, Shani Ashkenazi and Ari Libsker

Dov Moran: "The most terrible damage of all of this is the loss of democracy"

Yossi Vardi: "If we reform the judicial system, it should be an enlightened reform"

Gili Raanan: "Israel is a step away from becoming an anti-liberal state"

Benny Landa: "As a country without a constitution, we need the Supreme Court to maintain the basic values"

Michael Shaulov: "Investors are aware that legislation is being introduced that discriminates against certain populations"

Oren Kaniel: "When there is infinite power, there is corruption"

Ron Atzmon: "Foreigners ask me, 'What the hell is going on with your government?', and I have no answer"

Aaron Mankovski: "The whole world never cared who was in government, only that there is a stable political system here that does not affect high-tech"

Amit Bendov: "When two wolves and a sheep decide what they are eating for lunch, that is not democracy"

Eyal Waldman: “I am already hearing from foreign investors that they prefer to go to places where the legal system has not been harmed"

Yodfat Harel Buchris: "The legal reform and the 61-MK override proposal mean Israel will no longer meet ESG rules"

Sarit Firon: "Our democracy, freedom, and the determined protection of individual freedoms are what make Israeli innovation possible"

Erez Balsha: "It is clear that the essence of the legal reform is to give more power to politicians and interest group"