He preferred to be the Speaker of the Knesset, but had to return to the office he left in 2020 and which he already knows deeply after a relatively long term of about five years. These days the field that Ofir Akunis' office is entrusted with - high-tech - has stormed into the center of public discourse and is making its baptism His first political fire in a territory full of disputes.
The instinctive struggle in the streets has already reached its doorstep.
At the beginning of the interview, Aconis reads us a WhatsApp message he received from a well-known investor in the venture capital community, which is formulated in undiplomatic language, bordering on threatening.
"We were surprised by the intensity of the incitement. Already today I receive from the best natsos, also on the networks and sometimes also on the streets."
Moshe ben Simhon
But a year ago you demonstrated against the Bennett government. So why is the protest now incitement?
"Demonstrating is part of the cornerstones of democracy, but when a person who was prime minister says that it is necessary to go to a face-to-face battle, he is actually encouraging to take active action. I estimate that if it continues like this it could unfortunately end in political murder. The first to use the scandalous phrase 'the destruction of a third house There was Aharon Barak. He began to break through the dam, then Esther Hayut came and the dam was completely broken into the violent discourse in Israeli society."
He is less impressed by the business threats of the high-tech executives, who are involved in the protest against the legal reform.
Since taking office, the minister has had time to meet dozens of ambassadors and ministers.
"How many of them brought up, on their own initiative, the matter of the constitutional crisis in Israel?"
He asks, and immediately answers - "zero".
To the American ambassador Tom Neides, whom he is supposed to meet next week, he intends to say: "We want to deepen the ties that have already begun in artificial intelligence, in quantum and in space, but the issue of the judicial system is an internal matter for the State of Israel."
"We want to deepen the ties."
Ambassador Tom Neides, photo: AP
Akunis entered the Ministry of Science during a difficult time.
The tide period when every day we woke up to startups that raised millions or sold for millions - has passed.
According to Minister Akunis, the Prime Minister is also concerned about the situation.
"How did we come to the fact that Israel is falling in the innovation index? Other countries that were lagging behind have caught up, and even passed us. We must be in a much higher place. The Prime Minister told me that this is unacceptable.
"We are currently in a debate, bigger than I expected, regarding the ministry's budget and the Innovation Authority's budget. There are officials in the Treasury who do not recognize the size of the hour. There is a big fight with the clerks at the Ministry of Finance, not with the Minister of Finance himself. Unfortunately, some of the clerks still do not see the need to increase Investments in high-tech as an engine of growth".
"Mine on Mine"
According to OECD data, Israel ranks lowest in terms of government investments. what are you going to do
"We are in dialogue with the Ministry of Finance to increase the budgets of the Innovation Authority and of the Ministry itself. I am also open to a dialogue with the industry; a dialogue that is based on a professional dialogue, not on the introduction of political messages. Although this is a government forum, as far as I am concerned, high-tech representatives will be invited to every meeting of the Committee of Ministers. Anyone who wants to appear in it will be able to express their position. Everything will be open and transparent."
"The trial should stop."
Netanyahu, photo: Yoav Dudkevich
We have not seen any informative activity by the government to the general public regarding the legal reform. Was there an explanatory failure here?
"Indeed, we were not prepared in terms of the magnitude and aggressiveness of the incitement and the spreading of lies. We are facing an organized, planned, financed and powerful campaign, while we are barely a ripple. Obviously, looking back, there should have been an organized campaign. Not political, but professional."
If tomorrow a man from the opposition knocks on the door and says he wants to talk, what level do you set for changing the composition of the committee for the selection of judges, the authority of the court to invalidate fundamental laws and invalidate ordinary laws?
"To me, everyone is important. I don't want to rate it, I don't think it's true. But the overcoming clause is perhaps the basic foundation for everything that happens."
So why, actually, not stop all discussions in the committees for a week to talk, so that the public can at least see that the Likud tried?
"We have not reached this stage at all, because the other side does not come to negotiations. It is putting a mine on top of a mine. We do not intend to hold negotiations on preconditions."
You see the power struggle between Gallant and Smotrich. Was the agreement with Smotrich a mistake?
"This is a complex and not a simple question. I even proposed to close the Civil Administration, which in recent years has been weighing its hands on the Jewish community settling in the Yosh, but if we break the agreement, it could break it with any of the other parties, which is undesirable and wrong from the point of view of political".
"I suggested closing the Civil Administration."
Smotrich, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
And what about the Netanyahu trial?
"We have to stop here. You have evidence that shows how the evidence was collected in the trial - contrary to every rule and every law. Netanyahu's trial, as far as I see and consider things, and any decent lawyer would tell you - should have been stopped, regardless of existing changes or which are now taking place in a legislative procedure in the Knesset."
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