Investing in Israel, a 75-year-old settler colony that imposes apartheid on Indigenous Palestinians, has always been unethical and illegal. It is becoming financially reckless as well. #ShutDownNation
Over the past few weeks alone, three large US tech firms, Electronic Arts (EA), Dropbox, and Corning, have shut down operations in Israel, following the lead of Israeli tech giants that have moved abroad. This further undermines investor confidence in the troubled Israeli economy.
With the current government, the most far-right, racist, sexist, fundamentalist and homophobic in Israel’s history, and its influential fascist component, trust in the Israeli economy is fading faster than expected.
Senior Israeli analysts recently said, “Investments in Israel in recent months have almost disappeared… We see a poor appetite for investments on the part of foreign investors, but we also have less appetite as Israelis.”
Fearing a “judicial coup” and rising “dictatorship,” Israeli hi-tech giants, like Riskified, Wiz, Papaya Global, and Disruptive AI, have been the first to recognise the capital flight and looming financial crisis and have fled the Israeli economy.
A few weeks ago, Moody’s downgraded Israel’s credit outlook due to the “deterioration of Israel’s governance” and a “weakening of institutional strength and policy predictability.” S&P is expected to follow suit soon.
In the first three months following the formation of the new government, investors in Israel’s stock market lost over $25 billion. Eugene Kandel, Former chair of Israel’s National Economic Council, predicted two scenarios for Israel’s economy: “a heart attack or cancer.”
In just over 2 months, Israel’s unprecedented budget surplus turned into a deficit due to a whopping drop in tax revenues and extensive spending by the far-right government. #ShutDownNation
Now that Electronic Arts (EA), Dropbox & Corning have shut down operations in Israel, what are Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Intel waiting for? #NoTechForApartheid
Apartheid is always terrible for the oppressed. As in South Africa yesterday and Israel today, now we know that it is also terrible for business in the longer term! #ShutDownNation #DivestFromApartheid