Lockdown deepens Israel’s ‘digital divide’

president, Reuven Rivlin.

“I feel the air is full of gunpowder. I feel the fury on the streets,” Rivlin told parliament this week. “Israel’s tribalism is breaking out through the cracks.”

Netanyahu initially won plaudits for his handling of the virus crisis, after he quickly sealed the border and imposed a lockdown, which appeared to bring the outbreak under control.

But the lockdown came at a great cost, pushing unemployment near 35% in April as hundreds of thousands were either laid off or furloughed, mainly in low-paying jobs such as retail, travel and hospitality.

Although most jobs gradually returned as the economy reopened, the caseload dramatically spiked in the fall, forcing the government to declare a second, open-ended lockdown last month. According to official figures, over 967,000 people, or almost a quarter of the work force, are again out of work.

Shvartz, who owns two bars and a craft beer company, managed to scrape by with his mail-order business until restaurants reopened over the summer. But safety regulations limited the number of customers he could serve, cutting sales.

Shvartz let a third of his staff go and cut his own salary. Then, the government announced its second lockdown. Now, he and his lone employee are again focused on the delivery business.

“It looks like a garage,” he said. He estimates business is down at least 60% from prepandemic levels.

Alon Alroy, a Bizzabo cofounder, faced a similar crisis in early March, when he realized the business of managing conferences was about to dry up. In what he described as “the toughest month we’ve ever had,” he let go a quarter of his workforce as his team scrambled to come up with a new strategy.

By the end of the month, they decided to focus on “virtual events.” The key, he said, was to go beyond standard Zoom calls and create an environment for engagement.

The software allows participants at large online gatherings to network or break away for private meetings, just as they would at an old-fashioned business conference.

“Everyone knew the events industry could disappear unless we invented, in a way, the event technology space,” he said, speaking from New York.

While some Israeli hightech firms have been affected by the economic downturn, the industry as a whole is experiencing perhaps its strongest year ever.

According to the nonprofit

Start-Up Nation Central, Israeli firms are having little difficulty attracting investors. “Israeli tech companies raised $7.24 billion this year, which is a 30% increase over the same period last year,” said Uri Gabai, the group’s co-general manager.

But as Israel’s technology scene thrives, many others are being left behind, creating divisions that have fueled angry protests.

For over three months, thousands of Israelis have held weekly demonstrations calling for Netanyahu to resign. Many of the protesters are people who have lost their jobs or businesses.

Much public anger has also turned toward ultra-Orthodox leaders, whose communities have flouted public safety rules, sent coronavirus rates skyrocketing and vociferously resisted calls for targeted lockdowns.