Israeli tech cos join general strike

Dozens of Israeli tech companies have joined the protest strike against the judicial overhaul announced by Histadrut secretary general Arnon Bar-David this morning. Some of them like Natural Intelligence and Skai (formerly Kenshoo), which were among the first tech companies to protest the judicial overhaul, announced they were joining the strike this morning. Not far behind them were some of Israel's biggest tech publicly-traded companies and unicorns including Wix, Fiverr, ironSource, Dazz, Redis, Verbit, Papaya Global, Playtika, Perion Network, Kaltura, Forter, Talon and Bookaway.

Last night following the firing of Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, Fiverr CEO Micha Kaufman announced his intention that the company would strike. "A night of difficult feelings and a deep rift in our people," he wrote. "I am announcing that the company will strike in Israel tomorrow to allow all those who want to go out to demonstrations."

The campaign protest headquarters says it will not be satisfied only with stopping the judicial overhaul, but also wants to establish a constitution in Israel. "The tech industry will work as a sector in cooperation with all sectors of the economy to create the broadest forum that represents all parts of Israeli society, to bridge the divides."

Among the venture capital funds joining the strike are Team8, Pitango, NFX, Qumra, Bessemer, Blumberg, Amiti Ventures, Battery Ventures, Disruptive, and TLV Partners. Many of these funds have paid for buses to take their employees up to Jerusalem to demonstrate.

All these Israeli companies have announced that they would allow their workers to strike for the next two days, and allowed them to do so without suffering a loss of vacation days. The situation is different among international companies. Of these, Meta (Facebook) was once again the first to respond on the issue and allow employees in Israel to join the strike. Facebook Israel GM Adi Soffer Teeni has taken an active role in leading the tech protests, and has spoken out stridently against the judicial overhaul.

Google and Nvidia are also joining the protests but unlike the Israeli companies the Israeli companies are not giving out days off at the companies expense, probably so as not to be seen as interfering in domestic matters. Amazon and Apple have yet to respond although Apple CEO Tim Cook is known as a human rights and gay rights campaigner and has spoken at US forums on the matter. Microsoft's R&D Center has also not responded regarding the strike, although its building has a banner outside saying "I have no other country."

Cisco Israel CEO Oren Sagi spoke diplomatically on the matter. He said, "Our aim in the global company is to build as many bridges as possible, and we must make sure of this - regardless of whether it is right or left, orthodox or secular - because in the end we only have one country."

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 27, 2023.