Israel Supreme Court Jerusalem (Wikipedia)
The major Israeli venture Capital firm Viola Group has come out and expressed the firm’s concerns about Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s proposed judicial reforms. Papaya Global, a fintech unicorn that offers a cloud based platform for companies to handle their payrolls, even went so far as to divest itself from Israeli banks in protest over the proposed reforms.
Founded in 2000, Viola calls itself Israel’s leading technology-focused investment group with over $4.5 billion in assets under management. The fund has backed over 100 technology companies to date and stands with a number of unicorns, such as immunai, Redis, Lightricks, and many of Israel’s leading public traded tech companies such as Pagaya ironSource and Outbrain.
Viola Group stated, in an open post on social media, that the firm believes, “that the state of Israel cannot exist without the following three cornerstones: Equality before the law without distinction of religion, race and sex, independent judicial system, free academia and media. Any attempt to weaken these cornerstones is a real threat to the very essence of the State Israel.”
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“The state of Israel was founded on democratic foundations of freedom, justice and equality. Years later, the high tech industry has grown on the basis of the same principles,” added Viola Group. “In recent days we’ve been anxiously watching legislation that will damage these foundations and change the Israel.”
“We believe Viola Group, founded 23 years ago and has invested to date in more than 200 companies, sees these principles as a candle at its feet and commits not to invest in companies that will use the proposed legislation or the norms that will be generated as a result in a harmful way on these cornerstones. The group supports and encourages its portfolio companies to continue and sustain bride culture.”
“The State of Israel was established on the principles of freedom, and equality for minorities. Decades later, the Israeli high tech ecosystem emerged on the basis of these very same foundational ideas. “
Viola group went on to say they are concerned about what they described as “recent threats to the judicial system, which undermine the fundamental ideas of our democracy.” The firm added that they felt that it was important to “vocally communicate our belief that the State of Israel cannot exist without 3 fundamental principles: equality without discrimination, an independent legal system, and freedom of speech – generally, and particularly in academia and in the media. Any attempt to disrupt these founding principles will present a true and immediate threat to the longevity and existence of the Israeli state as it is today. “
Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government’s proposed judicial reform plan would dramatically curtail the powers of Israel’s Supreme Court and attorney general. So, opponents say that this would leave the government free to do whatever it wants in the absence of any oversight.
