‘Next Year in Jerusalem’: A Call to Action

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to host a group of senior automotive executives in Israel. Most had never been before. And most had subconsciously negative preconceptions of Israel based on media consumption. I’m sure many people can relate to the experience of watching as the uninitiated are introduced to the reality of Israel, the palpable joy and excitement as those misconceptions are shattered, and the glories of the real Israel come to the surface.

One of our stops was the Western Wall and its adjacent tunnels, where they were exposed to history dating back three millennia. But perhaps the biggest impact came from the juxtaposition of that experience with the one immediately following – after a 15-minute ride on the bus to our next destination. There, we found ourselves in a conference room at Mobileye discussing cutting-edge autonomous vehicle technology with co-founder, Amnon Shashua. These intense experiences of the historical/spiritual and technology/business back-to-back left the group exhilarated and eager to share with family and colleagues back home.

I recall that trip right now with some melancholy. For the last 18 months, opportunities to host business visitors in Israel have been few and far between. The venture capital fund I manage, Maniv, is proudly headquartered in Israel, though most of our investors and portfolio companies are abroad. Each year, we invite our investors to our Annual General Meeting (AGM) to discuss the performance of our fund and the latest trends in the industries in which we invest. Until 2023, that meeting always took place in Israel. For many of our investors, joining our AGM was their first time in Israel.

In 2024, given a multi-front war, regular sirens requiring runs to bomb shelters, and limited flights to Israel, it was not viable to host our meeting in Israel; we held it in Europe instead. At the opening dinner, I promised “next year in Jerusalem,” and indicated that I did mean it literally.

Early this year, we began planning a fall 2025 AGM in Jerusalem, reserving venues and hotels. Over time, we learned that several key investors would likely not be able to attend due to travel restrictions imposed upon them by their corporate security departments. One investor explained, “Israel is classified as a Level 4 destination—the highest risk category—allowing business travel only under exceptional circumstances.” Such assessments often rely on government advisories, such as US State Department warnings or their local equivalents.

Is it truly risky to visit Israel in spring 2025? Risk is relative. Natural disasters like the recent earthquake in Thailand and Myanmar highlight how unpredictable risk can be. My personal opinion is that Israel is safer now than it has ever been, and while there is no objective answer to the question, the data broadly bears that out. The threat from Lebanon has been neutralized, the Gaza conflict poses virtually no danger to most of the country, and missiles from Yemen are almost always effectively intercepted before reaching Israel. While risks from Iran and terrorism remain, the actuarial risk of terrorism has long been untethered from perceived risk. Israel continues to boast one of the lowest mortality rates in the world, alongside violent death rates meaningly below the United States and the EU. While it is hard to ignore the optics of an active war, the objectively measurable risk impact to date to prospective visitors has been negligible.

As with all things, perception generally trumps reality. And fighting the perception that travel to Israel creates much greater risk than is warranted is something that it is incumbent on the government of Israel and others to prioritize. A persistent and granular explanation of the risks of travel to Israel – in a format that compares it, apples-to-apples, to other activities – must be made available to foreign ministries and decision makers inside businesses. 

There is no overt evidence that corporate security departments, airlines or others have done anything other than act in good faith based on their risk assessments of travel to Israel. But in the absence of compelling data, it is easy for their absence from Israel to become habitual, and for those with more nefarious intentions to be strengthened. 

Steep manpower reductions in Israel’s Foreign Ministry over the last decade have led to a steep decline in the type of public diplomacy that mitigates some of these impacts. Given the economic impact of airlines not flying, business travelers not coming, not to mention Israel’s large and neglected tourist industry, this is something that the government must urgently revisit. 

Being forced to move our 2025 AGM out of Israel causes me enormous consternation – both because I believe hosting the meeting would be better for our business, and because of a deep-seated fear that we are enabling those who would effectively place a “soft boycott” on the country. The business community should support the government’s efforts to combat unfounded fears and help all parties understand that Israel is fully open for business – and tourists.

As for Maniv, while we move our 2025 meeting, we stand clear on this message: next year in Jerusalem.