Dr. Zvi Marom, founder and controlling owner of the high-tech company atm , which in the early 2000s employed Benjamin Netanyahu as a consultant, is angry. And not for his friend the Prime Minister.
“I don’t care that people (from the high-tech industry) are threatening to take their money out of the country if decisions are not made according to their wishes,” he tells Globes. “Israeli society is quite violent, the whole ‘I’m taking my money and leaving, arrest me’, that’s not acceptable to me. These threats are exactly the mirror image of the threats of the MKs from the other side.”
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Marom, a veteran of the high-tech field in Israel, refers to the statements of several technology companies that they will take their money out of Israel, following the promotion of the legal reform by the government, and this on the grounds that its approval will harm the democratic image of the State of Israel, which will make it more dangerous on a financial level.
Marom adds that “you hear those who make a lot of noise. I’m not at all sure that industrial companies in Nazareth Elite or Migdal Hamemek have less use of ‘elite technologies’ than in Lemonade or Papaya Global for example.
Prof. Zvi Marom
professional: He founded Batam in 1992, and until recently served as the company’s CEO. Currently owns 22% of its shares. In addition, he serves as a director at Shore Capital
education: Electronics engineer from the US Naval Academy, graduate of the US Naval Institute. Has a degree in medicine from Tel Aviv University and a master’s degree in industrial electronics
Something else: He was the chairman of the Hi-Tech Industries Association
“Attributing Israel’s technology to all kinds of venture capital funds, and to companies that have a large value for reasons some of which are technical, is an incorrect view of Israel as a technological country. Some of the people who speak on behalf of high-tech, I don’t remember that they were chosen by anyone.”
Moreover, he says, “Unfortunately, those who are shouting – inclusive of course – are not the ones who agreed to be hired for the effort to improve education. This is an element no less important in the stay of high-tech in Israel than if someone opens a bank account in the US.” The fact that Israel is a technology-biased country is an advantage that should trickle down and reach all sectors. That everyone will benefit from it, not just the ‘scooter gang’.”
“When the crisis is over, we will take out a sweet dare”
Marom would not necessarily like to see the changes in the judicial system as they are written in the bill, but “from there to calling everything that happens the ‘end of democracy’? And we also need to stop using Nazi symbolism.”
He has no doubt that reforms are needed in Israel, not only in the legal service but in the entire public service. “Bureaucracy ends our lives and the judicial system is no different,” he claims.
Is the necessary reform, in your opinion, similar to the proposed reform?
“I have no doubt that the reform as it is proposed will not pass. The two principles of democracy are still that the majority decides, but also that the minority is not oppressed. I do not criticize people for how they speak, but for what they do in the end. So they said, no need Be excited. The reform will not pass because it will not have sufficient inertia and energy to pull through to the end. There will be a compromise.”
Marom recognizes a leadership crisis on both sides: “A real leader does not get carried away by the voters. I expect both the prime minister and the leader of the opposition to lead the events and not be carried away by them. The president is trying but his weight is limited. This is not the status Chaim Weitzman had at the time.”
However, he chooses to end on an optimistic note: “I spoke with managers at technology companies that support many people, and some of them also see an opportunity here – to really discuss what is needed for high-tech to be sustainable and last in Israel for a long time. When the crisis is over, we dare to take out a sweet.”
What would you like to say to your friend Benjamin Netanyahu?
“What I say to Bibi I say personally. And in general, being the prime minister of Israel today is a crappy job. I don’t understand why so many people want this job.”
atm which is traded on the Tel Aviv and London Stock Exchanges at a value of NIS 465 million, after a 55% drop in the last year, operates through a communications division and a division that deals in the field of medical devices with an emphasis on medical tests. Marom himself owns shares in it and serves as a director.
Investments in biomed are already being cancelled
And meanwhile on the ground, the Israeli cyber company Wiz, which this week reported raising $300 million, according to a value of $10 billion, announced at the same time as the fundraising announcement that “Unfortunately, in light of the coup d’état, the money we raised will not enter Israel,” according to its CEO and the founder of the company, Assaf Rapaport, one of the most active parties in the protest against the reform of the judicial system.
Whereas in the biomed market, several sources reported the actual cancellation of investments by foreign companies, against the background of the legal reform and the reference to it in the global media. Yaron Barsky, a partner in the RPM Global fund, says that a meeting with a strategic partner to discuss horizontal cooperation was canceled, and the investor sent him an email along the lines of: “We have changed our strategy in Israel, and therefore the conversation that was planned for us will not lead to the results we were hoping for. It is better not to waste the A man’s time. Good luck in the future.”
Yaron Barsky, partner in the RPM Global fund / photo: Gil Arbel
Could it be that they don’t want to invest for another reason, and are just giving you an excuse?
Barsky: “It’s not in their interest. It’s a very rich fund and the economic crisis doesn’t affect it. I estimate that on the contrary, they would prefer to give any excuse other than getting into politics, if that wasn’t really the problem.”
Prof. Hazi Bernholtz, an inventor of medicines as well as an entrepreneur and manager of several companies and ventures in the field of biomed, tells about the cancellation of a plan that was already in advanced stages, to establish a factory in Israel for an American vaccine company, which purchased technologies developed by Bernholtz. “They informed me against the background of what is happening in Israel, that they are afraid to establish the factory here, and now they are interested in establishing it in another country,” he says. “I dreamed of setting up a biotech factory here with Israeli workers, but the launch of the product cannot be delayed. Maybe we will manufacture it with an external supplier.”
The founder of Aina Pharma, Prof. Hezi Bernholtz / Photo: Yoav Dodkovitz
Barenholz adds that even in the academy, several scientists with whom he collaborated in the past, cut off contact. “The State of Israel was always under attack for its image, and I was always ready to defend it. Today it has become much more difficult for me,” he says.
About 70% of the members of 8400, the network of executives in the field of biomed and medicine, signed a statement this week in which they opposed the reform, among other reasons, for harming the sector, “the buds of which are already visible today.” They warn of “difficulty in raising funds, damage to the activities of multinational companies in Israel, brain drain, damage to human rights, especially minorities and women.”