"We are very angry about the budgets that are being transferred as part of the coalition funds to the ultra-Orthodox sector," entrepreneur Erel Margalit, founder and chairman of the venture capital fund JVP and the Margalit Start-Up City venture, said emphatically in a special interview with Israel Hayom.
Margalit made the remarks against the backdrop of the decision to transfer NIS 13.7 billion to the ultra-Orthodox sector. "Over the past ten years, we have forged a great partnership between the ultra-Orthodox and secular populations in high-tech around the issue of employment in Jerusalem. What the government is doing with these budgets is taking us back ten years. It shuts off the ultra-Orthodox public within its own neighborhoods. It doesn't promote integration at work and doesn't provide incentives to hire new employees, which is what we've been doing for the past ten years."
30 years ago, Margalit founded the venture capital fund JVP in Jerusalem, believing that he would succeed in positioning it as a high-tech center in Israel. To date, the fund has established over 160 companies, raised $1.75 billion, and was ranked as one of the top six venture capital funds in the world.
, Moshe Shai // Haredim at the entrance to the recruitment office.
In addition, JVP has led over 40 exits, including 12 IPOs on NASDAQ. At the same time, a decade ago, Margalit founded the Haredi High-Tech Forum in Jerusalem, together with Itzik Rumbi and Racheli Ganot.
"Taking us back"
Margalit: "The government does not budget the faculties that allow core studies after basic studies so that the ultra-Orthodox population can integrate into the new economy. We're boiling over this thing. We feel that after all the work we do every day, hour after hour, suddenly they shoot us in the legs and take us backwards, and it's a cry for generations. This must not happen.
"The ultra-Orthodox population wants to integrate into the new economy of the State of Israel. The state must provide the tools for this to happen. In this way, it arouses enormous anger among the secular and religious public, and it arouses antagonism. We've removed the antagonism – and the government is bringing it back, it's hurting our efforts. Moshe Leon, the mayor of Jerusalem, is not from my political camp and we are able to cooperate with him and create new things on the economic and social level, and as mentioned, the government's conduct is taking us backwards."
It should be noted that investments by high-tech companies in Jerusalem in 2012-2016 amounted to about $2022 billion. In the past two years (2021-2) alone, $300 billion has been invested in more than 2015 companies. As a result, employment in Jerusalem's high-tech sectors has been on a continuous upward trend since 2022: in 30, some 000,<> technology workers were employed in Jerusalem.
Photo: Lior Mizrahi // Jerusalem. Last in the big cities,
On the great development of high-tech in Jerusalem and the integration of the ultra-Orthodox, Margalit says, "In the past 20 years we have brought about a very big revolution in Jerusalem. We have 30,000 high-tech employees in the city. There is a high percentage of women who are employed in high-tech. 34% of employed women are ultra-Orthodox. In addition, the percentage of Haredi men employed in high-tech in Jerusalem is on the rise, from 6% to 8%.
"Jerusalem has 600 startups. Jerusalem is not Tel Aviv, and it is a revolution. Against the background of the struggle for democracy, pluralism and diversity must employ Haredim alongside secular ones, so that it will continue to be a creative and vibrant city. The struggle of the protest against Kaplan is very important, but in the end the battle for pluralism and democracy must be won in Jerusalem, because to a large extent the image of Jerusalem determines the image of the State of Israel."
A revolution of joy
Margalit adds: "You can't work alone, you also need the government for that. We believe that through education, community and innovation, poverty in Israel can be eradicated within 10-5 years. For this reason, we established BeKehilla 20 years ago, in order to narrow gaps, develop young leadership and give children the opportunity to be part of the next generation of entrepreneurs in the State of Israel.
"We are connecting entire regions of the country to a new economic story, and creating an economic revolution among the ultra-Orthodox and Arab populations, in Jerusalem, the Galilee and other areas. Our goal is to give everyone the opportunity to be an entrepreneur as part of economic growth."
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