Workers at dozens of high-tech companies started a strike today (Tuesday) that will last two hours, in protest of the changes in the justice system led by Justice Minister Yariv Levin. Hundreds came to protest demonstrations in the Sharona complex in Tel Aviv and other centers, including Herzliya and Jerusalem, and chanted “No democracy, no hi-tech!”. Following the protest, the police blocked Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv to traffic for a short time.
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The high-tech workers’ protest headquarters said: “The coup is the greatest danger to Israeli high-tech. Without independent courts, there will be no innovation, no creativity, no investors, and no international companies that to this day have chosen to establish development centers here.”
Shay Engelberg, one of the leaders of the high-tech protest, said: “It’s not for nothing that venture capital funds are expressing concern about what’s happening here. It’s not a case that senior officials in the economy express real concern about the direction Israel is going. The high-techists are going out today to demonstrate because this is a real alarm – Israeli democracy is in danger and we are here to To tell the government – until now, we will not allow you to destroy Israeli democracy.”
The headquarters of the high-tech workers’ protest reported earlier that over 100 high-tech companies announced that they would allow the workers to go to the protest demonstrations. Among others, the entrepreneur and investor Dov Moran, the entrepreneur Shaul Olmert and Vinon Kastika, one of the founders of WIZ, came to the central protest center in the Sharona complex in Tel Aviv. Among the companies that made the protest strike possible are: Natural Intelligence, Lemonade, Assaf Rapaport’s WIZ, Redis, Shaul Olmert’s PIGGY, Active Implants, Algo SK, INX, DEZZ, BREX, CYERA, TYTO U- and COGNIT.
At the same time, to the protest of the high-tech workers, the social activist Tomer Avital promoted a warning shutdown among other businesses and sectors, and according to the organizers’ estimates, hundreds of businesses throughout the country are expected to take part in the shutdown. The headquarters of the struggle warned that this was a warning strike to the Israeli government, which would last for several hours.
The high-tech protest – blocking Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv (photo: the high-tech protest)“We take responsibility and are ready to lose money in order not to stop democracy,” the organizers noted. The planned protest actions will continue on Thursday and will probably also include demonstrations at intersections and various protest organizations will take part in them, including the high-tech protest, the student protest and the black robes protest.
The presidents and rectors of the research universities in Israel issued a joint statement yesterday in which they express, among other things, deep concern about the division and polarization in Israeli society and about processes that could lead to real damage to the national strength and stability of the State of Israel. In a statement, they called on the government and the Knesset to avoid rapid constitutional change without a sincere and meaningful parliamentary and public discourse on the controversial issues and their impact on security, the economy and society in Israel.