Tech leaders to Netanyahu: Recruitment inequality could spark mass job migration
Tech leaders to Netanyahu: Recruitment inequality could spark mass job migration
"A law that exempts ultra-Orthodox from enlistment and burdens reserve soldiers with dozens of days a year will cause serious damage to human capital in high-tech and harm the economy's growth, which high-tech drives," the letter reads
"High-tech company managers facing a real threat to their companies' continued functioning will be painfully forced to prioritize jobs abroad over jobs in Israel. Unfortunately, this process quietly began a few months ago, potentially leading to the transfer of about 20% of the local industry's workforce to various locations worldwide. Such a move would be a fatal blow to Israeli high-tech, resulting in immediate tax losses for the state and, worse, potentially causing the emigration of a strong population from Israel in the near term," write Israeli high-tech executives in a letter sent to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of the Economy ahead of the High Court hearing on the Haredi recruitment law, expected this coming Sunday.
A long list of the most senior figures in the local tech industry signed the letter, warning of severe damage to the engine of Israeli growth due to the burden of reserve duty on the secular population in general and high-tech workers in particular. "According to the Ministry of Finance data, 20% of reservists are high-tech workers, more than any other sector in the economy," the letter reads. "A law that exempts ultra-Orthodox from enlistment and burdens reserve soldiers with dozens of days a year will cause serious damage to human capital in high-tech and harm the economy's growth, which high-tech drives."
The authors of the letter further warn: "In the absence of full and equal recruitment, we expect to see increasing aggregate damage to companies across the entire sector, from the profitability and durability of large companies to the closure and failure of young companies. Continuing this situation will set Israel back decades economically, and the local high-tech industry will face an existential crisis."
In conclusion, high-tech executives write: "We expect the Israeli government to understand the gravity of the situation and to implement a recruitment law ensuring fair and equal service. The Israel Defense Forces require the participation of all segments of Israeli society. There are no magic solutions, but recruiting everyone for meaningful and equal service is essential."
The letter is signed by dozens of current and former managers, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists in Israel, including Micha Kaufman, CEO of Fiverr, Yaniv Garty, former Vice President at Intel, Chemi Peres, Shlomo Dovrat, Dr. Orna Berry, former Chief Scientist, Adi Soffer Teeni, GM of Meta Israel, Noam Bardin, former CEO of Waze, Ziv Aviram, co-founder of Mobileye, Eyal Waldman, Shaul Meridor, formerly head of the budget department and now CFO of Lightricks, and Zeev Farbman, founder of Lightricks. Venture capitalists include Gigi Levy from NFX, Adam Fisher from Bessemer, Yodfat Harel Buchris from Blumberg Capital, Tal Barnoach from Disruptive Fund, Sarit Firon from Team8, and many others.
