The deal, announced in December of 2023, was slated to be the largest investment the international chipmaker has made in Israel so far. 

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Intel’s $25 billion chip factory in Israel has been halted, although the chipmaker said in a statement that it was ‘still committed to the region.’

In the last few days, Intel’s suppliers received notice to halt the delivery of materials and cancel contracts required to establish the chip factory.

According to Calcalist, Israel’s Ministry of Finance was already aware of the decision to stop the construction, with the financial news outlet speculating whether it was a delay or a cancellation of the deal.

“Is Intel’s new $25 billion factory in Israel in danger of being canceled?” Calcalist posed.

The $25 billion deal for the construction of the chip plant, announced in December 2023, was slated to be the largest investment the international chipmaker has made in Israel so far.

The factory, which was supposed to have been built in Kiryat Gat, would have meant $3.2 billion in incentives for Intel, with the chipmaker committing to purchasing $60 billion from Israeli suppliers.

As late as March, it was reported that OPC was expected to build a power plant for Intel with an investment of $900,000 million.

Idan Ofer, the head of OPC, signed a memorandum of understanding with Intel, and construction of the power plant was slated for completion by 2026.

It has also been reported that several Intel officials in Israel have moved to Ohio to work at the Intel factory that is being established there.

Intel, which has four development sites in Israel and employs 12,000 Israelis, has said that it is “still committed to the region,” not defining whether “region” meant Israel specifically or possibly another location in the Middle East.

In a statement, Intel said, “Israel continues to be one of our key global manufacturing and R&D sites, and we remain committed to the region.”

It continued, “As mentioned previously, the scope and rate of expansion of Intel’s production at the company’s sites around the world depend on a number of changing factors.”

“Managing a project of this magnitude, especially in our industry, usually involves schedule adjustments. Our decisions are based on business conditions, market dynamics, and responsible capital management,” it concluded.

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Company to establish facility at Swedish port for local production of energy and green molecules that are circular and carbon negative.

By Abigail Klein Leichman, ISRAEL21c

An Israeli clean technology to produce electricity and “green” methanol continuously from nonrecyclable waste will be powering a local energy production facility at Wallhamn Port in Tjörn, Sweden – one of the largest vehicle handling ports in northern Europe.

Boson Energy, an Israel-Swedish-Polish company, will build the plant to serve Wallhamn’s growing need for energy and electricity for charging vehicles unloaded in the port, as well as supporting the local power grid when needed.

Both the electricity and fuel will be carbon negative, as Boson Energy’s process makes it possible to capture carbon dioxide, for utilization or storage, in a clean and cost-effective way.

The only solid residue from the conversion process is a glass slag that can be used as an environmentally friendly filling material, or further processed into climate-smart insulation material.

Torbjörn Wedebrand, CEO of Wallhamn, said the project is an opportunity to expand port operations and realize its goal of becoming the world’s first carbon-negative port.

“This project creates very good conditions for our green transition and reliable energy supply — both for our own operations and for our customers,” Wedebrand said.

“It will be an important part of growing our import/export business while at the same time achieving significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. In addition, the various products from Boson Energy’s integrated approach offer very interesting opportunities to develop the entire area around the port. For us, this is a flagship project, and many ports around the world are facing similar challenges.”

As part of the project, Boson Energy has also entered into a cooperation agreement with Ecopromt to build an indoor farming facility for growing vegetables in the vicinity of the port. This facility will receive green electricity, carbon dioxide, and cooling directly from Boson Energy’s facility.

With an initial investment of 100 million euros, the project is expected to begin construction in 2025.

“The Wallhamn project will show the autonomous and dynamic potential of our 24/7/365 system for local production of electricity and green molecules in phasing out fossil alternatives,” said Jan Grimbrandt, founder and CEO Boson Energy.

“The project will cut straight into sectors where it is difficult to decarbonize, such as marine fuels, chemical industry, fertilizers and ultimately even local food production with high-efficiency greenhouses. This project will become a global template that is relevant not only for ports, but also for cities and any kinds of ‘islands’ – all of which face problems of energy access, costs and fossil fuel footprints.”

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Israeli and international companies, offered the workspace for free, will be based in the complex and employ programmers from Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem.

By JNS

The EasTech high-tech campus was inaugurated on Saleh al-Din Street in eastern Jerusalem on Monday as part of the Israeli government’s effort to create jobs for Arab programmers and technology professionals.

Meir Porush, the minister of Jerusalem affairs and Jewish heritage, and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion inaugurated the complex in East Jerusalem, budgeted for a total investment of 10 million shekels ($2.75 million).

The plans include the establishment of the high-tech campus within which 200,000 square meters (about 2 million square feet) of offices and work spaces will be built with a total investment of about 200 million shekels ($55 million).

Both Israeli and international hi-tech companies will be based in the complex and will employ programmers from the east of the city.

The place is offered to companies free of charge in order to encourage and develop the high-tech sector in the eastern part of the city and enable quality employment for young academics who have difficulty finding work in technology companies elsewhere.

Among the companies that have already started operating there are Ness, Natural Intelligence, Techlinic and Quantum Vision. Twenty local programmers have already started working in the complex as employees of these companies.

Lion said, “The construction of the new complex is another step on the way to realizing a more significant historical and strategic plan in the east of the city, which brings great news to the economy in Jerusalem in general and the east of the city in particular, with an increase in the supply of employment in the high-tech field.

“The Jerusalem Municipality, which is leading the project, intends to recruit the leading companies in the field of high-tech and to realize the potential of the high-quality workforce in the east of the city,” the mayor said.

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The newly upgraded Old City landmark offers a new flow, exquisite design and enjoyable exhibits for young and old.

By Judith Segaloff, JNS

Tucked inside the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City stands an edifice that personifies the resilience of Israel’s eternal capital.

The Tower of David has served as a Herodian fortress, a Crusaders’ palace, an Ottoman entrance gate, and now hosts the renewed and state-of-the-art Tower of David Jerusalem Museum.

The $50 million renewal and conservation of the museum, thanks to Dame Vivien Duffield through the Clore Israel Foundation, the Jerusalem Municipality and other philanthropic funding, has transformed a compound designed to keep intruders out to carefully plotted galleries filled with exhibits that explore and trace the history and the spirit of Jerusalem.

Turning the ancient structure into a modern and accessible museum was a formidable challenge for the architects and design team on the project. Using all the original architecture, except for one ceiling, they transformed the first-century fortress into a welcoming, comfortable, and handicapped-accessible modern museum with 215,000 square feet of galleries detailing Jerusalem’s 4,000-year significance to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

After 10 years of planning, three years of construction and the installation of a mile of fiber optic cables, the museum, originally founded in 1989, is set to officially open on June 1, with an additional contemporary art gallery opening in November.

According to Caroline Shapiro, director of external affairs for the museum, the new flow that begins adjacent to the Jaffa Gate takes visitors through the museum in a way designed to showcase the city of Jerusalem. It still offers shady outdoor areas where tour guides gather their groups or where visitors can meet before beginning their exploration.

Curator Tal Kobo and her seven core team members combined actual artifacts culled from the site during excavations by teams of archeologists during the renovation with 3-D touch screens, mounted carefully to highlight the stone walls behind the glass.

Eilat Lieber, chief curator of the museum, understood the nature of the diverse audiences she had to reach, after her son took a school trip to the museum prior to its renovation and pronounced it “boring.” History, he said, is boring. She pondered how to make it relevant to our time—and to the many different communities that converge in Jerusalem.

“We decided to use an interactive process,” she explained. “We have the perfect location, and this building represents all the layers of history and of conflict,” she said. “We realized that the evidence of the past will tell the story in different ways and engage visitors to find what is meaningful to each different person. The Tower of David is one of the most beautiful and well-preserved fortresses in the world. The history of Jerusalem must be told through technology and beautiful design.”

With headsets and audio tours, her son came back on a class trip to experience the “new” museum. This time he didn’t say boring. “This,” he said, “is cool!”

The museum’s sleek new design

The technology team for the museum comprised more than 50 people in five separate studios.

The designers chose a clean, minimalistic look to contrast with the heavy stone structure and enhance the power of the site. Even the cracks between the stones were conserved. Grouting was replaced by limestone. Elevators and ramps were installed.

“The two elevators were six years of heated discussion with the antiquities commission,” recalls professor Tal Roih de Lange of Studio de Lange, one of the designers.

“The important design principle was to maintain context with the city,” he explained. “Each space is different in both architecture and context. “Communication cables, electric wires and even lighting fixtures were carefully hidden.”

But how do you light 215,000 square feet of castle without beams and ugly cables strung across the ancient ceilings?

The architects and designers met the challenge using “floating” cement floors with LED lighting in between the crevice between floor and wall. Heating and cooling emanates from under the floors as well. Small but powerful sconces inserted in the limestone cracks between the stones were used to augment the natural lighting of the vaulted ceilings. The glass displays light up as well, offering effective and dramatic interaction.

And don’t think the acoustics in a castle are optimal. According to Architect Yotam Cohen Sagi, they used 3D scans to conduct acoustic studies and tried three different materials until they were able to ensure that the sound traveled properly throughout the galleries.

3000 years of history in 3 minutes

“I have never been on so many site visits and to so many meetings for a project,” Sagi explained. “There were so many layers, and we used old fashioned methods of measuring and leveling—holding strings. And then, just when you think you know what you’re doing, you find ancient remains or artifacts and have to stop everything and call in the Israel Antiquities Authority,” he said.

Every window and skylight is visible. At one point the visitor looks through a display and a window beyond the exhibit highlights the modern city of Jerusalem. History connects with high-tech Jerusalem itself.

All the 3D models face in the actual direction of their orientation, transporting the visitor to their exact location within the space of the museum. As large as each space is, the exhibits are designed to keep visitors engaged, without fatigue from the constant content. The technology is designed to communicate various content in different ways. Transparent touch screens allow 360-degree close-ups of real artifacts located in nearby cases in one space. Another space lends itself to ceiling projections, and another to multimedia presentations.

The first gallery offers 3,000 years of history in three minutes—a multimedia presentation by Israeli cinematographer and Golden Globe winner Ari Folman. Through classic animation and video mapping, it traces the history and culture of Jerusalem.

A “Bunting Map” from the Middle Ages portrays Jerusalem as the center of the world, flanked by Europe, Asia and Africa; the city on the shores of eternity. As you progress through the gallery, it’s like being in a time tunnel, with a 40-foot-long interactive wall fueled by 12 computers.

As you progress through the Mamluks and Ottomans and finally find the interactive 3D globe, you are brought to almost the present time with a letter from Israel’s first president, David Ben-Gurion, to a young boy

If you enjoy maps, there are 14 interactive ones on offer, including an elevation map of Jerusalem, enhanced by special lighting and a 2.5 minute video that displays the entire city.

Don’t forget your audio guide (it’s in three languages). As you progress through the museum, it will tell you what you’re looking at, because at some point, it can become overwhelming. You will see a five-and-a-half-minute film by Jerusalem filmmaker Yair Moss, and Dale Chihuly glass exhibits adjacent to cannonballs from the Jerusalem revolt in days of yore.

Each religion is given its due. The Jewish room features the mosaic of Bet Alpha’s Binding of Isaac and a large model of the Second Temple, complete with artifacts from that period, including a coin press for Hasmonian coins and a first-century lily coin. A Yeshiva University-created 3D scan of the Arch of Titus has been colorized and animated, capping off the Jewish exhibit.

A Jordanian Madaba Map with crusader coins features the Tower of David on the coins, with some featuring the Crusader kings and queens who took up residence in this very castle.

Underneath the minaret, which served as a mosque at various times during the city’s history, there is a large model of the Temple Mount complex, featuring the Al Aqsa Mosque and a cutaway of the famed Dome of the Rock. For those of us who have never been near or inside it, it is illuminating to see the Foundation Stone and other features of the Mount.

“With all its layers and incarnations, the Tower of David has never been a ‘holy place,’ explains Tal Kobo. “But the artifacts and the history symbolize the yearning to come back to Jerusalem.”

For children who still think “history is boring,” in addition to all the displays and visuals, every room is equipped with fun interactive games and quizzes for children. For the older generation and for those with special needs, the museum is one of the most accessible attractions in Jerusalem.

“We had to get permission for everything,” explained Reut Kozak, accessibility coordinator for the museum. “From hanging signs to buildings and structuring the floors. The Mamluks didn’t make the doorways wide enough for wheelchairs,” she said.

All told, only 15% of the museum is not completely accessible, she added.

Famous for its light shows at night, the new museum will feature noise reduction headphones and relaxed performances for people on the autism spectrum or who have sensitivities to sound. An app uses Bluetooth to access hearing aids for the hearing impaired and customizes the sound for each ear, and there are audio descriptions for the sight impaired.

A sensory map provides a guide that details dark, light and the noisier rooms, and there is a special audio tour guide for sight impaired. There are visuals with sign language on the app for the hearing-impaired.

The only area not accessible to anyone who cannot navigate the final 50 steps is the Observation Deck, but the museum has created a Virtual Reality experience for those left behind that will help them enjoy the 360-degree panoramic view from their phone.

And, thanks to the new flow, when you come out of the Tower of David, through what used to be the original entrance, the Old City is at your feet, ready to be explored in real time.

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IVC and LeumiTech report shows $1.72 billion raised in the first quarter of 2023, 70 percent less than in the first quarter of 2022.

By Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel 21C

During the first quarter of 2023, Israeli high-tech companies raised $1.72 billion in 105 deals — a 70 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2022 and 79% from the peak in the fourth quarter of 2021.

And that number is inflated by three mega deals of over $100 million each, accounting for 38% of the overall amounts: $300 million for Wiz, $250 million for eToro and $110 million for Via.

Furthermore, only 23 exits (21 M&As and two IPOs) were completed in Q1/2023, totaling $1.087 billion.

These sobering facts were revealed in the IVC–LeumiTech Israeli Tech Review Q1/2023.

“The year began with a significant slowdown in investments, both in terms of the volume of transactions and the number of transactions,” said Timor Arbel-Sadras, CEO of LeumiTech.

“Clearly, investors as well as funds are still hesitant to make investments or make mergers and acquisitions. The root cause is probably the high level of uncertainty around companies’ valuations in the current macroeconomic terms. We anticipate that in the second half of the year we will see higher levels of such activity, and hope that this will lead to a renewed growth in the long term.”

The report also found that early rounds (pre-seed, seed and A series) decreased 62% compared to Q1/2022, while seed deal amounts dropped 50%.

Marianna Shapira, Research Manager at IVC, explained that the decline in Israeli high-tech capital market activity in the beginning of 2023 followed the trend in the second half of 2022, which reflects fluctuations on global financial markets.

“The capital volume from foreign sources, that provides the major financial support for Israeli startups, has weakened. Companies experienced a notable drop in capital investments from their existing investors, and the number of early startups that raised capital has decreased considerably,” she said.

“On top of that, the mega-rounds trend is in a major decrease, compared to previous years. All these trends lead us to a modest projection regarding capital volume for 2023, in case the financial conditions and trends will not change in the course of this year.”

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As road crash deaths rise in the U.S., an innovative Israeli startup is using 3D visualization to identify safety deficiencies in new and old roads.

By Brian Blum, Israel21C

Road crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States for people under the age of 54. There are a staggering 12.4 deaths per 100,000 people (that’s 36,500 fatalities) annually, with a total of 4.5 million people injured enough to need medical attention.

All this comes at a grave economic cost: $340 billion in 2019, including some $30 billion in direct taxpayer costs. And 2021 was even worse, with 42,915 people killed on American roads, the highest in a single year since 2005.

One major contributing factor to this tragic story is poor lines-of-sight, which are notoriously hard to envision when planning a new road or highway.

Natan Elsberg was working as a civil engineer for transportation in the United States when he decided in 1993 to emigrate to Israel. He started out doing roadway design in the Jerusalem area, eventually establishing his own consulting firm, RDV Systems (RDV stands for “rapid design visualization”) in 2005.

Originally a 3D design visualization firm specializing in planning highways and infrastructure, RDV is now focusing on road safety.

“We didn’t have market dominance in 3D design,” Elsberg explains. “There are many other companies out there. We had negotiations with the leaders in CAD [computer aided design] and were almost bought out. That’s when we realized that we were the only people doing 3D for safety matters. Safety is a very different kind of proposition. You can’t do it with just a couple of still frames.”

A visual alternative

Elsberg recalls how transportation planning has changed over the years.

“We used to go into a meeting with engineering plans on paper,” he tells ISRAEL21c. “People didn’t get it. Paper doesn’t do well communicating, both to the public and to internal stakeholders. It was a waste of time and money.”

The solution in the early 90s: “Bring more and more papers, put it all up on a wall and eventually people will understand. But they didn’t.”

Elsberg and RDV Systems set out to build a virtual alternative “before Google Earth or all the stuff we have on our phones existed.”

Elsberg and his team at RDV worked on projects in Israel (the Highway 1 upgrade from Sha’ar Hagai to the entrance of Jerusalem, the new downtown of Modi’in, the high-speed train from Tel Aviv to the capital), as well as projects in the US.

In recent years, RDV Systems has focused exclusively on North America. The US has more crash deaths than any high-income country, about 50% more than similar countries in Western Europe, Canada, Australia and Japan.

Elsberg says RDV has now worked with around 20 state departments of transportation, including the Connecticut DOT where RDV worked on the $4 billion 1-84 expansion near Hartford.

RDV has also worked on projects in Florida, Massachusetts, Texas, Nevada, Michigan and Utah. (Those are just the published projects; there are many more Elsberg wasn’t able to share publicly yet.)

Down to the centimeter

3D visualization is now “accurate down to the centimeter,” Elsberg claims.

“But there’s one area of road engineering that remains unaddressed. It’s the bastard son of safety: sight distance. It’s a simple concept. If you want to drive down a road at 100 km/hour, for example, you need to see an object 192 meters in front of you. There might be a fallen tree, a stalled car, a rock.” Bridges, glare and drainage can all be problematic.

Put another way, if you’re on a road with a speed limit of 60 miles an hour, “you need close to 600 feet to safely see, comprehend, decide to hit the brakes and bring the vehicle to a safe stop.”

RDV’s software simulates line-of-sight issues that could not have been seen using other software programs – and certainly not using paper and pen.

What kinds of problems can RDV pick up? Guard rails as you turn the corner is a big one. “If someone is stopped there and is sticking out, I won’t be able to stop in time,” Elsberg points out.

RDV’s software can save a department of transportation a significant amount of its budget.

“We put our software to use on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway,” Elsberg notes. “We found six deficiencies in the design. We were able to fix these before construction even started. Normally, these flaws would be built, then it would take 10 to 20 years to analyze why we’re having an abnormal number of crashes at that point.”

To view an RDV simulation, you can watch a normal 2D video with no special software or hardware required, or don a pair of virtual reality goggles.

“It’s not a dedicated app. You just scan a QR code and open your browser,” Elsberg says.

The market is ready

The road to RDV’s pivot to line-of-sight technology began in 2007, “but the market wasn’t ready for us to be doing 3D,” Elsberg says.

The breakthrough came when RDV was working on a new interchange in Utah.

“’We have 3D virtual models of every road because we scan them all with lidar,’ they told us,” Elsberg recalls. “’Can you do your analysis on our existing network?’ they asked. We decided at that point we’ll throw our chips in that direction and go all-in on safety.”

Elsberg emphasizes that RDV doesn’t do the scanning – they rely on their clients. Several DOTs in the US have already done this, while the rest are “on the way to team up with companies that do lidar scanning. We also have partnerships with companies that collect lidar scans not for DOT work but other types of mapping.”

Google and Apple, Elsberg notes, often rely on third-party vendors. These vendors, in turn, “have millions of miles of lidar data they’re willing to sell.”

Another benefit: the DOTs talk to each other, which leads to a network effect for RDV’s sales funnel. “We don’t have to sell to all 50 state DOTs,” Elsberg notes, “just five or six of them with critical mass.”

For the lifetime of the project

In its 15 years of existence, RDV has raised a bit less than $5 million. Most of the company’s budget comes from project revenue.

RDV sells its services directly to clients but there’s another source of income.

“When we publish our models on the cloud, that becomes recurring revenue,” Elsberg tells ISRAEL21c. “Customers will pay to be able to see online in real time what the latest version of their project is. With a subscription, team members can log on, store files, put on VR glasses, make virtual tours and their own videos. DOTs will often keep this service live for the lifetime of the project, from the design phase and early planning to final construction.”

Sometimes a client comes in the backdoor. One project in Arizona was intended just to show the public what the DOT was working on.

“We told them that, for another $30,000, we can do a safety overlay for you. You’ve already invested in the project, now for just a bit more money, we can show you a critical analysis that can save lives using the same 3D models,” Elsberg explains.

Adding a safety analysis for another 15% of the total project price is almost a no-brainer.

We asked Elsberg if the self-driving future could obviate some of RDV’s value proposition.

“From a safety perspective, Level 5 [fully] autonomous vehicles would kill less people,” Elsberg says. “But to get there will take decades. We can’t get people to give up their guns in the US. So how are we going to get them to give up driving?”

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Riskified, whose value tumbled by $2 billion in less than two years, claims reason for leaving Israel and downsizing operations is judicial reform.

By Adina Katz, World Israel News

Riskified, a successful Israeli hi-tech company, recently made a dramatic announcement that it will be divesting millions of dollars from the Jewish State.

In an email to employees, the CEO of the company, Eido Gal, framed the move as their way to protest against potential reforms to Israel’s judicial systems. He also claimed that moving money out of Israel is necessary in order to protect the business from a catastrophic economic fall-out, should the changes to the courts come to fruition.

But is Riskified really divesting for ideological reasons, or are they leveraging the political chaos in Israel as an opportunity to cover up financial struggles within their businesses?

Forced relocation instead of layoffs?

The e-commerce fraud protection company announced in an email to employees last week that it was closing its offices in Israel, withdrawing $500 million from the country, and relocating its operations to Portugal.

“The laws being enacted might lead to the breakup of our judicial system’s independence. It is highly likely that the matter would lead to a major and protracted economic recession in Israel,” read the email penned by Gal.

“More importantly, this will result in Israel changing from a democracy with liberal values into a more authoritarian state. I believe that only bad results will come from this ‘reform.'”

Notably, the email briefly mentioned that the company had only “a limited number of relocation packages available.”

There was vague reference to “support” for “people who wish to make the move themselves,” but it was clear that most Riskified employees would need to spearhead the bulk of their own relocation costs.

Presumably, employees who cannot afford to pay their own way to a new life in Portugal would be unable to continue working at Riskified.

If Riskified, like many other companies in Israel’s hi-tech industry, wants to downsize its employees without being the bad guy and firing them, placing the onus on workers to relocate to a different continent provides a convenient smokescreen.

Tumbling share prices, new regulations

Riskified made its IPO in July 2021, at a valuation of $3.3 billion and $21 per share. However, last month Riskified’s share prices were traded at just $5, meaning that the overall valuation of the company is likely far lower today.

According to a January 2022 Haaretz report published before the announcement that the company was moving its funds out of Israel, Riskified is currently valued at $1.3 billion. While that is a respectable sum, it’s far lower than its valuation less than two years ago.

The Haaretz report touched on numerous issues within Riskified’s business development strategy, which were noted by analysts at J.P. Morgan.

Riskified has an arduous, lengthy onboarding process, which means that signing a new client can take upwards of a year. Additionally, changes to European regulations regarding e-commerce have rendered Riskified’s solution less relevant on the continent.

“According to…forecasts, [Riskified] will end the year with earnings of $227 million with a negative EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of around $25 million,” Haaretz reported.

Considering the major financial struggles facing Riskified, it’s likely that the company wishes to downsize its operations and payroll costs. Framing these moves as a noble act of political protest could provide a way for Riskified save face rather than admit that it needs to make cuts in order to stay afloat.

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“Most hi-tech employees do not participate in protests and don’t believe their organizations should take part in them,” said Tefen CEO Mally Bitzur-Parnes.

By JNS

Only 12% of respondents say they have participated or plan to participate in the protests against the Israeli government’s judicial reform plan, according to a survey released Sunday.

The poll, published by Tefen, an international management consulting firm, found that the vast majority (90%) of respondents were against their company taking an active role in the protests.

Seventy-seven percent said they would not personally take part in the protests.

“Contrary to what is being portrayed on the social networks, most hi-tech employees do not participate in protests and don’t believe their organizations should take part in them,” Tefen CEO Mally Bitzur-Parnes told Israel Hayom.

“They favor communications and negotiations and oppose extremism, calls for civil disobedience and refusal to serve in the IDF reserves. Most of them object to violence and to taking money out of the country, or any steps that harm Israel’s image,” she added.

“The absolute majority of hi-tech employees in Israel want quiet, and to put the split behind us,” she said.

Those polled also were asked to rate freedom of political expression at their workplaces. Twenty-one percent said they don’t feel free to express their opinions, 22% percent said they felt they could. Fifty-seven percent said political views should not be exchanged at work.

The poll surveyed 2,170 hi-tech employees, who were evenly split with regard to judicial reform. Asked whether the reform endangers Israel’s economy, 41% said no and 39% said yes.

On Saturday night, Israelis again took to the streets to protest the judicial reforms, with large turnouts reported in Haifa, Beersheva and Tel Aviv.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid told an estimated 10,000-strong crowd in Beersheva that “Israel is in the greatest crisis in its history.”

The Yesh Atid party chairman continued: “A terrible wave of terrorism is hitting us, the economy is collapsing, money is fleeing the country. Here in the south, personal security is collapsing every day. Yesterday the Iranians signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia that will inject billions of dollars into their nuclear program.

“These are huge, historic challenges, but the government has lost interest. The only thing the government is interested in is continuing to crush Israeli democracy and the unity of the Israeli people.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday accused the opposition of trying to overthrow his government and vowed to continue pressing ahead with its reform program.

“Only four months ago we held elections. The government I head received a clear mandate from the citizens of Israel. The fact that for two whole months our repeated calls for dialogue received no response from the opposition proves that what interests the opposition is not the judicial reforms, but the creation of anarchy and the overthrow of the elected government,” said Netanyahu.

“It is impossible to be in favor of the success of the Israeli economy and to encourage the flight of funds from Israel. It is impossible to be in favor of the rule of law and to encourage violations of the law. It is impossible to be in favor of the security of the state and to encourage insubordination that would collapse the security of the state. There is no conditional Zionism,” said the premier.

Nevertheless, Netanyahu expressed hope that “honest” and “patriotic” members of the opposition, “those who care about the country,” will step up and engage in talks.

“But in any case,” he continued, “let no one make a mistake: We received a mandate from the public, and we will fulfill it.”

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Life expectancy is increasing, but so are risks. CTech profiles some of the leading innovative Israeli startups in LongeviTech.

By Yonatan Sredni, CTech

The life expectancy for Israelis in 2023 is set to be 83.49 years, maintaining Israel’s position as one of the highest ranked countries in this category.

According to the United Nations, the global population of people aged 60 years and over is projected to nearly double by 2050, reaching nearly 2.1 billion.

The continuous rise in life expectancy brings about changes in the way we live, consume, retire from work and transfer assets to future generations. These changes create opportunities for technology companies to play a central role in planning for longevity and creating financial resilience and optimal health in later life.

However, besides the opportunities, the phenomenon of longevity also has risks associated with the dilution of economic capital, a decrease in health and an increase in economic dependence on the country and family members.

“Introducing innovative solutions, products and services and state-of-the-art technologies can help governments, corporations and individuals be well prepared for the aging trend,” said Dr. Ira Sobel, Founder and CEO of the Fintech for Longevity Academy, an online independent network for aging and longevity leaders.

“In my perspective, there are three ways to achieve this goal. The first is to establish an international collaboration so that despite the cultural differences among different societies we will learn from one another, mainly through conferences, workshops and education.

“Secondly, to promote an interdisciplinary approach so that all the aging stakeholders (insurance companies, healthcare organizations, pension funds, governments, innovation centers and entrepreneurs) will build a new body of knowledge for addressing the issue, and third, is to harness innovation so that people will live longer and healthier lives while harnessing innovative solutions, products and services.”

One of the companies working on this innovation is Japanese giant Sompo. According to Yinnon Dolev, Head of Sompo Digital Lab Israel and Europe, Sopmo is launching a new Big Data system for nursing homes in Japan, called EGAKU. “The aim is to take patient and caregiver information in order to improve treatment quality and streamline nursing home operations.

“In addition, Sompo has launched the Horizon project – a unified platform for improving the quality of senior care by family members and caregivers. It will be a marketplace that offers all kinds of digital solutions, applications and products.”

With this in mind, CTech profiles some of the leading innovative Israeli startups in the field of LongeviTech:

Longevity.ai

Founded: 2021

Funding: Undisclosed

Founder: Guy Leitersdorf (CEO)

Committed to using science and technology to improve the lives of people around the world, Israeli startup Longevity.ai has developed a comprehensive system for hospitals, health funds, and other medical organizations that allows them to track and monitor the health of their patients in real-time.

The company’s SaaS platform can be used for everything from generating biological age predictions to producing reports using a variety of metrics, from blood, DNA, and psychological surveys.

According to their website, Longevity.AI’s goal is to “help people live longer, healthier lives by providing them with the tools and support they need to manage their health and well-being. By using artificial intelligence to make personalized recommendations, we are able to provide tailored treatment plans that can help to improve life expectancy and quality of life for people of all ages and medical backgrounds.”

Empathy

Founded: 2020

Funding: $43M

Founder: Ron Gura & Yonatan Bergman

At least three million Americans die each year, leaving many grieving families in distress, not just from their loss but from the logistical nightmare that follows. In the weeks and months following a death, these families spend over 500 hours, on average, dealing with immediate needs, like arranging a funeral and validating a will, as well as long-term processes such as account cancellations, estate administration, benefit claims, and property cleanout.

Combining financial technology and human support, in 2021, serial Israeli entrepreneurs Ron Gura and Yonatan Bergman launched Empathy, a platform helping families navigate the journey, including the logistical and emotional complexities, they face after losing a loved one. Empathy’s software streamlines end-of-life bureaucracy, minimizes tedious tasks, and automates processes involved in the administration of an estate.

SenterCare

Founded: 2020

Funding: $1.3M

Founders: Yair Geva & Nimrod Altman

“The world is aging, and people want to age at home,” SenterCare CEO Ronny Sthoeger told CTech. “With labor shortage and health expenditure on the rise – technology must come in.”

Israeli startup SenterCare offers what the company claims to be “the only un-obstructive technology that can differentiate between people in the same home and can be truly personalized and adaptive.” Its system notifies of safety, short-term and long-term events, and trends.

“It reduces acute situations, and thus prolongs the senior’s quality of life, preserves their quality and reduces health expenditures,” he added.

Name: BoBo Balance

Founded: 2017

Funding: $2.4M

Founders: Eitan Merhavy (CEO), Gadi Nir (CSO), Haran Anjioni (CPO) and Yair Agami (CMO)

About 36 million falls are reported among older adults each year, resulting in more than 32,000 deaths. Many seniors who have fallen in the past have not reported it or sought medical attention.

Israeli startup BoBo Balance created a device that brought physical therapy, fitness and balance training into the modern world.

“There is a saying in Hebrew that says, ‘The world belongs to the young people’, but that’s simply not true,” CEO Eitan Merhavy recently told CTech. “People are living longer and longer, so the world really belongs to the seniors. But for that to continue, people need to move – literally keep moving their bodies.

“BoBo Balance’s mission is to empower seniors to age independently with confidence by providing personalized balance training that reduces the risk of falls and helps them stay active and healthy – while also having fun.”

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The failed 2020 Democratic nominee for president, who isn’t even familiar with his own country’s Supreme Court system, nevertheless weighed in on Israel’s judicial system.

By World Israel News Staff

Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg published an op-ed in The New York Times Sunday warning against judicial reform, saying Israel was “courting disaster” that could “imperil the future of the Jewish homeland.”

Bloomberg opened with the disclaimer that he has “never gotten involved in [Israel’s] domestic politics or criticized its government initiatives,” but that it was “due to my love for Israel, my respect for its people and my concern about its future are now leading me to speak out against the current government’s attempt to effectively abolish the nation’s independent judiciary.”

The judicial reform is “imperiling Israel’s alliances around the world, its security in the region, its economy at home, and the very democracy upon which the country was built,” Bloomberg said in the oped.

The billionaire noted a “disturbing sign” where some have already begun pulling money out of the country while “re-evaluating their plans for future growth there.”

“As the owner of a global company, I don’t blame them,” he wrote.

“Companies and investors place enormous value on strong and independent judicial systems because courts help protect them — not only against crime and corruption but also government overreach,” he said.

Bloomberg does not mention, or does not know, that a broad swath of companies in Israel stipulate in their contracts that any potential litigation must take place in overseas courts because the local legal system is heavily influenced by the whims of individual justices, vague and fluid notions of “reasonableness,” and a notorious lack of adherence to contractual obligations.

“The extraordinary rise in Israel’s economic standing over the last generation may be Mr. Netanyahu’s greatest achievement,” Bloomberg wrote. “Yet unless he changes course, Mr. Netanyahu risks throwing all that progress — and his own hard-earned legacy — away.”

Bloomberg further warned that Israel imperils its close ties to the U.S. and other Western nations if it continues on the path “that mirrors those of authoritarian countries.”

Israel, he noted, is in “one of the world’s most dangerous neighborhoods”.

“The more divided it is at home, the weaker it appears to its enemies,” Bloomberg said. The move “could even imperil the future of the Jewish homeland.”

The failed 2020 Democratic nominee for president, who isn’t even familiar with his own country’s Supreme Court system, had no reservations about calling on Israel to “pull back and slow down” in righting its court system’s historic wrongs.

The post Michael Bloomberg ‘doesn’t blame’ corporations for pulling money out of Israel appeared first on World Israel News.

Protesters lit a fire and broke the barrier blocking the entrance to the Ayalon highway.

By World Israel News Staff

More than 200,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv and other cities in Israel on Saturday night for the ninth week in a row, to protest against the government’s controversial plan to overhaul the country’s left-leaning judiciary.

A few hundred protesters at the rally in Tel Aviv broke through a barrier at HaShalom interchange, a major highway exit, by lighting a fire and descended onto the Ayalon highway. Police declared it an “‘illegal demonstration.”

Police officers on horseback disperse the protesters and arrest three.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir described the protesters as “anarchists” who are seeking “to set the ‘state of Tel Aviv’ on fire,” referencing an adage that suggests that Tel Aviv is a separate entity from the rest of the country.

Another 20,000 protesters took to the streets in Netanya; 15,000 in Haifa; 13,500 in Kfar Saba; and 5,300 in Herzliya.

In Herzliya, opposition leader Yair Lapid in Herzliya said: “We believe that we have no existence if Israel is not a strong liberal democracy. We believe in the common good even if the government tries to divide us. We believe that our basic rights are not something that the government gave us as a gift and they are certainly not something that the government can take away from us.”

In Beersheba, former defense minister Benny Gantz echoed Lapid’s words, saying: “Those who are here tonight are people who want to protect the country, who work for the state and serve the entire Israeli society and come from all places. Jews, Arabs, religious and secular, and I think this is very important and we must continue for two reasons – because we don’t have another country and because we don’t have another way.”

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Smart solutions for streamlining and democratizing cumbersome pieces of the healthcare puzzle aim to improve workload and patient outcomes.

By Abigail Klein Leichman, ISRAEL21c

It’s no secret that the fragmented US healthcare system is severely ill, suffering from astronomical costs, uneven access to care, cumbersome regulations, low patient satisfaction, practitioner shortages and other grave symptoms.

Approximately 30 million Americans have no health insurance coverage and therefore struggle to pay for medical care and medications.

The senior editor of Harvard Health Publishing words his grim diagnosis this way: “Is the US healthcare system expensive, complicated, dysfunctional, or broken? The simple answer is yes to all.”

In Israel, where citizens enjoy universal medical coverage and a high standard of care, entrepreneurs see an opportunity to improve the American healthcare experience.

One way is by continuing to pioneer advanced medical devices and technologies as we’ve done for decades.

A newer approach is finding high-tech solutions to overall problems in the distribution of healthcare in the United States.

It takes a little chutzpah for residents of a tiny country thousands of miles away to tackle a mammoth challenge far away. But that’s what Israeli ingenuity is all about.

Below, a sampling of some of the best Israeli solutions to the American healthcare crisis.

TailorMed

Srulik Dvorsky, cofounder and CEO of TailorMed, told ISRAEL21c that due to substantial out-of-pocket expenses even for insured patients, “American healthcare providers face a $40 billion uncompensated care problem because of patients who cannot afford the high cost of treatment.”

TailorMed’s automated system helps healthcare organizations remove financial barriers by identifying financially at-risk patients and matching them with relevant opportunities across 6,000 resources — copay assistance, replacement drug programs, government subsidies, funds from community, state or disease-specific foundations, and programs that help with living expenses.

TailorMed’s platform is deployed at more than 1,000 sites including Providence Health, UnityPoint Health, Yale-New Haven Health and Advocate Aurora Health.

An Almeda Ventures portfolio company, TailorMed also has new investments from Ballad Ventures, Inception Health and University Hospitals Ventures.

“University Hospitals is already seeing the impact to our hospital and our patients through our customer relationship with TailorMed,” said Matthew Zenker, Senior Portfolio Manager at University Hospitals Ventures. “We are proud to invest alongside so many likeminded institutions in a company that is making healthcare more accessible and affordable for all.”

Antidote Health

The founders of Antidote Health decided to build a digital health maintenance organization (HMO) geared to the millions of US citizens earning too much to be eligible for public health insurance and too little for adequate private coverage.

Antidote’s online telehealth service offers one-time remote doctor visits starting at $49 and low-cost monthly subscriptions for individuals and families. The plan covers online acute or primary care checkups and prescriptions without deductibles or copays.

The service is available to anyone with an Internet connection in specific states (the number is 21 and growing rapidly). Mental health, diabetes and hypertension care can be included.

Navina

Navina’s mission is to improve clinical workflow and patient interactions and outcomes by ending the need to search through all the data in patients’ electronic health records before and after visits.

Using proprietary AI that integrates and consolidates data from EHRs and other sources, Navina builds an actionable “Patient Portrait” that allows physicians to review any case in minutes and complete documentation with a click.

The Innovation Lab of the American Academy of Family Physicians found that Navina’s platform reduced pre-visit preparation time by up to 70% and led to a 23% increase in diagnoses found and a 38% increase in risk-adjustment scores. The company recently raised $22 million to expand its reach across US primary-care practices.

Nintex

Nintex helps healthcare providers reduce costs, save time and increase patient satisfaction by automating workflows and removing paper-based processes while remaining compliant with complex and constantly changing healthcare data regulations.

Rick Casteel, VP of IT at University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health, said employee productivity was bogged down by manual processes that made it challenging to comply with patient privacy and security regulations.

After adopting Nintex Advanced Workflow to automate account creation, deletion and the steps in between, Casteel says, “we could ensure that we handle the whole process in a consistent fashion, minimize the risk of human error and free up IT staff for more valuable tasks.”

Flywire

Started in 2010 in Israel as Simplee, Flywire – now headquartered in Boston – kicked off a digital revolution in simplified healthcare payment plans, personalized according to patients’ capacity to pay and consolidated across multiple accounts.

Chicago ARC

The new Chicago ARC is a healthcare venture collaborative created by Israel’s Sheba Medical Center in the model of its own ARC (Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate) Innovation Center.

Chicago ARC, in partnership with OSF HealthCare, University of Illinois and Illinois Tech, is dedicated to advancing equity in the management of chronic diseases and access to quality behavioral health services with a focus on people with substance use disorder.

The group plans to create a hub of health innovation to position the Illinois and Midwest region — the third largest US healthcare market — as a global destination for innovators and startups looking to transform healthcare.

Sheba will collaborate with Chicago ARC partners on sharing and developing technology-based care model best practices.

“The Chicago ARC and its network of leading partner organizations creates the ideal way for Sheba to translate our learnings and best practices to the US healthcare market,” said Dr. Eyal Zimlichman, deputy director general, chief transformation officer and chief innovation officer at Sheba Medical Center.

The post Can Israeli ingenuity fix America’s broken healthcare system? appeared first on World Israel News.

Israel-based firm Adnimation granted Google Certified Publishing Partner status, enjoyed by just 57 companies around the globe.

By World Israel News Staff

An Israeli ad tech company has been selected for a prestigious enhanced Google status shared by just 57 other companies around the world.

Adnimation, a Modi’in- based firm that works with publishers to monetize their content with innovative advertising, announced on Wednesday that it has received internet search engine giant Google’s official stamp of approval, being recognized as a Google Certified Publishing Partner (GCPP).

Adnimation is the third Israeli company to be recognized as a GCPP.

In receiving this exclusive status, Adnimation has been recognized by Google for its effective and trusted monetization solution for publishers, consistent growth, and the utilization of advanced technology.

Google uses the GCPP badge as a symbol of trust for online publishers, indicating that the company they are working with has been approved by Google and has a track record of success in maximizing ad revenue for publishers.

“Being recognized as a GCPP is a testament to Adnimation’s expertise and commitment to delivering leading ad management services to publishers,” said Maor Davidovich, Co-Founder and CEO of Adnimation. “This is a significant milestone that recognizes years of hard work and achievements, and we look forward to utilizing this new status to further support the success of our publishers.”

As a GCPP, Adnimation can now offer added benefits to its publishing partners, such as early access to Google products.

Tomer Treves, Co-Founder and President of Adnimation, said: “Since Adnimation’s founding in 2013, our goal has been to represent publishers in an industry largely focused on advertisers. Our admission into the GCPP program is a vote of confidence in our work, which was only made possible thanks to our amazing partnering publishers.”

Adnimation currently works with hundreds of publishers, providing services to companies in six continents and managing billions of ad impressions per month.

In May 2022, Adnimation became the first company in the world to launch Google’s CTV monetization product, enabling Adnimation to use its advanced technology to offer Google ads to CTV and OTT publishers.

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President Herzog praised Israel’s “significant impact on the global stage” at the Cybertech Global conference in Tel Aviv.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

President Isaac Herzog addressed a cybertech conference in Tel Aviv Tuesday with a pre-recorded speech written partially by a computer program.

Speaking on the last day of the three-day the Cybertech Global conference in Tel Aviv, he praised Israel’s “significant impact on the global stage.”

The president said he was “truly proud to be president of a country that is host of the innovative hi-tech industry. Israel is consistently at the forefront of technological advancement [with] its achievements in cybersecurity, AI [artificial intelligence], and big data.”

He talked of high-tech achievements that are changing the world, saying, ”Not only are machines taking on tasks which once only humans could perform, they are performing tasks which humans could never dream could be done – pushing the boundaries of the imagination and of what is possible.”

He revealed that this included having the opening and closing parts of his speech written by a chatbot called ChatGPT instead of a human being.

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence tool that allows people to ask questions in natural language and give detailed answers within seconds on almost any subject one can think of. Mistakes do creep in, as its answers depend on the information it has been programmed with, but most of the time, they are correct.

Unlike most chatbots, it can also “follow up” an interaction because it remembers previous prompts from the same conversation. But more than that, it can be original. ChatGPT can compose music, author poetry – and write speeches.

The tool was invented by OpenAI, an American research laboratory founded in 2015 with such partners as Microsoft and Amazon Web Services “to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity,” as per its website.

Herzog did remind his tech-minded audience that “we must never forget the human spirit. No computer… can ever replace human DNA. Hardware and software cannot replace human will.”

The conference is a business-to-business networking platform where attendees hear about high-tech threats, innovations and solutions in sectors ranging from defense to agriculture, critical infrastructure to health.

Illustrating the importance of the symposium, the heads of three Arab states’ cybersecurity departments attended – the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco – as well as their counterparts from Israel and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Cyberwarfare and cybercrime were two of the most important topics addressed.

Former IDF intelligence Unit 8200 chief Nadav Zafrif discussed how the cyber sphere was becoming a real battlefront, stating that it has been “part of the toolkit” used over the past year in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Several leaders in the industry urged governments to protect their most critical services and secrets, whether military or industrial, as hackers are becoming more and more sophisticated – and successful – in their attacks.

A full nine percent of the world’s economy, $8.4 trillion, was lost due to those illegally accessing computer systems, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk told her listeners.

The post Israeli president’s speech at hi-tech conference partially written by ChatGPT appeared first on World Israel News.

A dozen Israeli high-tech companies went on ‘warning strike’ Tuesday, in protest of planned judicial reforms.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli high-tech companies held a one-hour-long work stoppage Tuesday, dubbed a “warning strike” in protest of the Netanyahu government’s plans to reform the Israeli judiciary system.

A dozen ten high-tech companies tooke part in the strike, which began at 11:00 a.m. at the Sarona Complex in Tel Aviv.

The companies which have signed onto the strike include Natural Intelligence, Hello Heart, Active Implants, AlgoSec, Piggy, Cheetah Technologies, Track160, Lemonade, Wiz, Redis, HoneyBook, Forter.

Organizers emphasized that participation in the protest would be voluntary, writing in a letter to the employees of the twelve companies involved: “We assume that you are aware of the public discourse about the legal reform and the protest it has provoked.”

“We have employees with diverse opinions and we always include and respect every person regardless of who they are. This coming Tuesday at 11:00 there will be a one-hour strike at the Sharona Complex, that will also be joined by high-tech employees. We as a company will allow employees who want to take part to demonstrate – each and every one according to their conscience and opinion.”

Tuesday’s protest follows large-scale demonstrations in Tel Aviv against the judicial reform plan.

Executives from a number of high-tech and venture capital firms called on their employees last week to join Saturday night’s protest.

“The large sums of capital invested in our industry are its sunshine and water. But no flower can bloom on rotten soil,” wrote Rona Segev, Shahar Tzafrir, Adi Yarel Toledano and Eitan Bek, executives of the venture capital firm TLV Partners.

“We say these things with a heavy heart and great pain, and we hold hope that the destructive actions will be stopped before it’s too late.”

The reform plan, drafted by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, would enable the Knesset to veto Supreme Court rulings which strike down Knesset laws, as well as empower government ministers to select their own legal advisers – rather than rely on those appointed by the Justice Ministry.

The reforms would also bar judiciary’s use of the “reasonableness standard” to strike down government decisions.

Supporters of the reforms say the plan would restore the balance of powers between the Israeli judiciary and the executive and legislative branches.

But critics have claimed the changes will cripple the Israeli court system, leave civil liberties unprotected, and enable Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to overrule the courts in his ongoing trial.

The post Israeli high-tech companies protest Netanyahu government’s judicial reforms appeared first on World Israel News.

The gaggle of radical sponsors at the first anti-judicial reform rally vanished from the second.

By David Isaac, JNS

The first mass rally against the current Netanyahu government, on Jan. 7, was very left-wing—even radically so, observers from both sides of the political aisle agreed.

The demonstration, ostensibly against the coalition’s proposed legal reforms, featured “anti-occupation” slogans and PLO flags, and was headlined “March of Rage,” terminology that could have been on loan from Gaza.

Some protesters openly wondered what one issue had to do with the other. A left-wing journalist voiced fears that center-left protesters, whose concern was defending the Supreme Court, would feel they had been deceived and would stay home the next time.

But something strange happened on the way to the second demonstration: The far-left groups that had played so prominent a role in the first disappeared, to be replaced by one organizer, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQG).

“On the promo poster for the second rally [on Jan. 14], their logo alone appeared. All the other organizations that had been listed on the poster from the first demonstration were gone. It looked like the Movement for Quality Government was solely responsible for the second demonstration,” said Alon Schvartzer, head of the research and policy division for Im Tirtzu, a Zionist NGO.

The second demonstration on Jan. 14 featured only the Movement for Quality Government in Israel as the sponsor.

Schvartzer said that his guess is the change came as a result of pressure by politicians such as opposition leader Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, head of the National Unity Party, who didn’t want to risk being associated with radical groups and Palestinian flags. “In the next election, they want to appeal to people from the center, not the left, or in this case, the radical left,” he explained to JNS.

There is evidence, albeit circumstantial, to back Schvartzer’s claim. Neither Lapid, Gantz nor any major opposition leader attended the first rally. The most prominent politician present was Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli, along with a few Knesset members, including fellow Labor member Gilad Kariv. Ayman Odeh, leader of the Arab Hadash-Ta’al Party, also attended, as did former politician Tzipi Livni.

Shvartzer added that Lapid and Gantz started calling for people to take to the streets in early December. Clearly, something didn’t sit right with them if they didn’t participate in the first mass rally.

The situation changed somewhat during the second rally. Gantz made an appearance, as did fellow National Unity party lawmaker Gadi Eisenkot. Former politician and member of Gantz’s Blue and White faction Moshe Ya’alon also attended.

However, Matan Kahana, one of the more right-wing members of Gantz’s party, did not, saying he didn’t want to be seen standing next to Palestinian flags.

The third protest, scheduled for Saturday evening, looks to see the full weight of the opposition parties in attendance as Lapid has reversed an earlier decision to avoid mass rallies. “Come and protect our beloved country from democratic ruin. Yes, I’ll be there too,” he said in a social media video post.

The risk of being associated with radicals has diminished, said Schvartzer, noting the Movement for Quality Government is considered mainstream among left-wing demonstrators. “It’s not a grassroots group but it has succeeded in presenting itself as one of the leaders of big anti-Netanyahu demonstrations in the past year. It has a large budget,” he said.

Unlike the other left-wing groups, the organization is focused on legal issues. It was one of the petitioners to the Supreme Court in the recent Aryeh Deri case, which led the high court to rule against the Shas Party chairman serving as a cabinet member in the Netanyahu government.

Promotional material for the third protest, scheduled for Saturday evening, Jan. 21, again lists as its sponsor only the Movement for Quality Government, or in some cases, adds “and protest groups,” which go unnamed.

While some may have been concerned that the far-left nature of the first demonstration would put people off, such fears proved unfounded. From a crowd of 20,000 at the Jan. 7 rally at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, the numbers swelled to 80,000 at the second.

“The mainstream news channels didn’t talk about the radical left orientation of the first rally,” said Schvartzer. “Instead, they featured the president of the Supreme Court telling us that we need to do something to stop the reforms. So people went to the demonstration and they got that impressive number.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his dissatisfaction with the media at the weekly cabinet meeting the day after the first rally.

“I was simply shocked. I saw posters over the weekend that compared the minister of justice [Yariv Levin] to the leader of the Nazis. They talked about the Sixth Reich [a reference to Netanyahu’s current sixth government]. This is wild incitement that passed without any condemnation from the opposition or the central media channels,” he said.

Makor Rishon investigative reporter Shilo Freid told JNS that Standing Together was the main organizer of the first rally. The stage was decorated in the organization’s color scheme and logo.
Its purple signs were seen throughout the crowd.

He described the group as a leader of radical leftist activities. He says it isn’t involved with legal issues, but rather is focused on ending the “occupation.” Its website says it’s “a grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of peace, equality, and social and climate justice.”

Freid emphasizes that the associations behind the rally are heavily funded from abroad. Twenty-seven percent of Standing Together’s budget comes from foreign sources, he said, citing Guidestar Israel, a website providing information on non-profits and operated by Israel’s Ministry of Justice.

Standing Together also received $1,026,222 in 2012-2021 from the New Israel Fund, according to Im Tirtzu’s research. A U.S-based NGO known for financing controversial groups, the Israeli branch of New Israel Fund stepped out of the shadows to openly tout its financial support for the first rally, telling its supporters in an email that it had “assisted with a special grant to the many civil society organizations that took part in the production of the giant demonstration on Saturday night in Tel Aviv.”

The first demonstration’s poster included a host of far-left groups, most unconnected to the issue of judicial reform.
Other groups involved in organizing the first protest were Breaking the Silence (its co-directors Avner Gvaryahu and Yael Lotan were featured speakers), the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Abraham Initiatives. All three enjoy generous financial support from the European Union.

Too many groups to mention were included on the poster advertising the first rally. The fight to block reforms to the Supreme Court is one that affects them directly, Schvartzer noted.

“The Supreme Court is like their second home. It’s where they focus their activities. Some appeal to the court 40 to 50 times a year. Taking away the Supreme Court’s power is like taking away their own because they don’t have the support of the Israeli people,” he said.

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