Tech sector says no to right's court proposals

The skyline of Tel Aviv began to change about 20 years ago.

- Bethan McKernan TEL AVIV

Its elegant white Bauhaus buildings have been joined by tower after tower, each a salute to Israel's transformation into an important advanced technology centre.

It is no accident that the rise of the "startup nation" dovetails with the career of its longest serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Bibi, as he is widely known, has championed Israel's vaunted hi-tech sector as a personal achievement. At 15.3% of GDP, it is Israel's main engine of economic growth, employing 10% of the salaried workforce, and generating about a quarter of income taxes.

Which perhaps makes it all the more surprising that the tech sector is rebelling over government proposals to neuter the Israeli judiciary. Spooked by predictions of the end of democracy and the rule of law, the entrepreneurial class, previously seemingly immune to the political weather, has joined the hundreds of thousands of people striking and marching as part of Israel's protest movement.