Status: 03.11.2023, 07:42 a.m.
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Bobi Gilburd, former colonel of Israel's elite cyber intelligence unit 8200 - since the beginning of the war, his company has met every deadline. © ---/Team8/dpa
Deserted beaches, closed shops and deserted office spaces. The war is having a significant impact on Israel's economy. Meanwhile, German companies are driving on sight.
Tel Aviv - Uniform in the morning, online conferences in the evening: For the former colonel of an Israeli elite unit, Bobi Gilburd, this has been part of everyday life for the past three weeks. "As soon as the service was over, I changed my clothes, got in my car in front of the military base and called customers in the U.S. or Europe," says the 45-year-old, who worked for 26 years in Israel's elite cyber intelligence unit 8200. Actually, he now works in the private sector, but because of the war against the Islamist Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, he returned to the military.
For a few days now, he has been back in his office in Tel Aviv. For how long, he doesn't know. Ten percent of the employees of his high-tech company are among the more than 300,000 reservists called up in the country. "We can't afford to stop working," Gilburd says. Many of his colleagues work from their mobile phones or laptops from the front. Since the beginning of the war on 7 October, every deadline has been met. Most conversations now take place online, often in the evenings. "But the customers are very understanding, they know that we are at war here." This also applies to missile alarms. "Countless meetings have been interrupted, but that's the way it is," says Gilburd.
Maintaining productivity is extremely important. His company works in the field of cybersecurity. "The industry is developing so rapidly, we can't say we'll be gone and back in a few months."
Driving force of the economy: Tech industry affected
The start-up and high-tech industry in the country of ten million inhabitants is considered the driving force of the Israeli economy. Last year, it accounted for more than 18 percent of gross domestic product and around 50 percent of exports, according to Israel's Innovation Authority.
It is precisely there that many young people are employed, who have now moved to the front, says Andrea Frahm, representative of the German Association of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (BVMW) in Tel Aviv. However, the war also has direct consequences for sectors such as tourism and trade, where short-time work prevails in some cases.
More than half of the companies in the country are complaining of heavy losses, according to the Israeli statistics office. Farms and construction sites are at a complete standstill, especially in border areas, says Eran Yashiv, an economist at Tel Aviv University. About a quarter of a million Israelis have left their homes because of the war. Half of them participate in government-funded evacuation programs. In addition, there are the costs of rebuilding destroyed cities.
Tourism has also largely come to a standstill since the beginning of the war. Empty beaches in Tel Aviv as well as an extinct old city of Jerusalem show the extent. Hardly any airlines fly to Israel anymore. The few travelers who land at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv report empty terminals. The Israeli shekel has reached its lowest level against the dollar in more than 20 years. U.S. bank JPMorgan estimates that Israel's economic output could shrink by <> percent year-on-year this quarter.
According to economist Yashiv, it is still too early to make predictions. "Everything depends on the further course of the war." The consequences for Israel's economy could be more severe than in previous wars. The decisive factor is whether other fronts intensify, such as with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, or whether Iran participates even more directly.
Direct impact on German companies
The war is also affecting German companies that are active in Israel. "Some are driving on sight for the time being and waiting with planned investments," says BVMW representative Frahm. "Many expats have left and are working from Germany for the time being." However, Frahm does not observe that companies are now giving up their business in Israel on a large scale. Especially in the high-tech sector, there are close ties between Israel and Germany's small and medium-sized enterprises. "We are now working on rescheduling conferences and event formats between high-tech and industrial companies planned for the next few months or postponing them indefinitely."
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Germany and Israel have close economic relations - even though Israel is a relatively small trading partner of the Federal Republic of Germany. According to the Bundesbank, 103 German companies have branches and about 10,000 employees in Israel.
Because of the war, precautionary measures are already in place in Germany. For example, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices in Bonn is analysing the risk of possible supply disruptions from Israel. Currently, there is a "potentially restrictive situation" for eight active substances, which are now being examined separately. The Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva states that production is "still largely unaffected". The company, which is considered the global leader in copycat drugs and is represented in Germany by Ratiopharm, has "contingency plans with backup production sites ready".
Optimism despite war
Despite everything, the governor of Israel's central bank, Amir Yaron, expressed optimism: "The Israeli economy is robust and stable." In the past, people knew how to recover from difficult times and quickly return to prosperity. "I have no doubt that this will be the case this time as well."
Colonel Bobi Gilburd is also convinced of this. He observes a lot of creativity. "Soldiers from the front call me and say they have this or that new idea." He was sure that one or the other would lead to new companies after the war. Dpa