On video: demonstration outside the Knesset (Yotam Ronan)
Among the many brains who came to Jerusalem today is
Dr. Yonatan Menuhin
, CEO of the Israel Institute for Innovation, an association whose goal is to support entrepreneurs and start-ups in finding resources, making connections with international companies, identifying acute problems and developing the Israeli ecosystem that encourages innovation.
Almost half of the institute's budget is financed by the state.
Dr. Menuhin, who knows the world of high-tech in depth, knows that his joining the protest against the legal reform could damage his budget and even lead to his dismissal, and tells Walla: "I was not born as the CEO of the Institute for Innovation and I will not die there. I promote the institute's goals, to make the Israel for an innovation center. There is an existential question here. Will our children stay here. I am ready to lose my job, to avoid a disaster.
"A large part of our work is to hear about the troubles of the start-ups, and we are now hearing about a stoppage of investments, we are in a terrible crisis, the results of which we will only see in two to three months, in the decrease in the amount of foreign currency that will enter Israel. We must not wait. Decades of branding of The state, as a technological power, can be destroyed in a very short time."
Dr. Yonatan Menuhin, CEO of the Israel Institute for Innovation (Photo: Yarin Tranos)
The informal connection that creates ideas - in danger
"Something critical is happening here. The basis of innovation is the ecosystem, the informal connection between factors that create ideas, and investments and solutions. At once, the trust at the base of the system is in question. You have to understand that in the hi-tech economy, the entrepreneurs can get up and go at any stage. There are communities Israeliness around the world, because the door is opening. The question is whether we want to break it completely.
"All the countries of the world want to entice Israeli entrepreneurs to come to them, Britain, France, Germany, companies from the USA have permanent missions here whose job it is to transfer entrepreneurs abroad.
Entrepreneurs are looking for certainty and stability.
International companies do not want to be involved in a place where property rights are at risk.
They know how to manage technological and commercial risk, but they don't know how to manage political risks, so we see them moving away from here.
Investors sit on the fence and do not spend their money here.
It is not that we are afraid that they will stop their investments - they are already stopping them.
"The question is whether we stand by and remain silent, or take action. We must not be silent, because there will be no point in our institute if this trend continues. I will no longer be able to raise funds and continue the activity. I am in a terrible situation. Or the government will freeze my budgets, Or the investors will stop them.
"We went out to protest because we have no choice.
Hi-tech is Israel's economic lever.
Our need for innovation is a matter of right or left and the government's policy calls into question not only our existence, but the existence of the State of Israel as an innovation center.
2300 start-ups are members of the institute's community.
We don't issue a coupon for the activity we do, so this loss of trust scares us all the more."
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