Hi-tech imperiled?

In “Israeli hi-tech threatened by diplomatic success it created” (July 16), Dana Weiss warns that young scientists and hi-tech whizzes are leaving Israel in droves because of Israel’s domestic politics. The world once overlooked the Arab world’s miserable human rights record because of the need for oil, she says, and it is prepared to ignore Israel’s because of their need for our expertise in security solutions. This will not last, however, she maintains, and the antipathy of our talented young scientists toward the Netanyahu government is causing many of them to leave Israel.

Most of this invaluable but very small group (about 130,000 out of nine million) are residents of the liberal, left-leaning greater Tel Aviv area. Weiss links their outlook with the results of the last election in which the Likud received under 20% of the vote in Tel-Aviv.

While this may be true, I question whether their dislike of Israel’s policies is the main reason driving so many young scientists to leave the country. They are not going to liberal Canada or to most countries in Europe. They are going to Trump’s America and Germany. In America, they have a booming economy with even more opportunities than in Israel and is the hi-tech center of the world. In Germany, especially Berlin, they have a lovely cultured life that is affordable for young homebuyers (if you ignore growing antisemitism).

Before we accept Dana Weiss’s argument, we should be skeptical about the link between political outlook and the departure of our young scientists from Israel.

CAROL CLAPSADDLE

Jerusalem