Senior academics to Netanyahu: stop legislative procedures that will limit the legal system

Senior academics in Israel on Tuesday appealed to Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu in protest of the legislative processes the incoming government is leading and its coalition agreements. In the letter, the senior officials of the academy demand from Netanyahu to stop legislative procedures that include the overcoming clause, the enactment of Deri's and Smotrich's personal laws, and the racism and discrimination laws.
"The processes taking place these days will have consequences for the character, strength, status and future of the State of Israel at the internal and international level. They directly harm the values on which the country was built. We appeal to the incoming government and its leader to stop these processes, to avoid harming the country's liberal-democratic infrastructure - thanks to which the academy in Israel is also thriving, and to ensure conditions that allow the intellectual, cultural and economic flourishing of all sectors of society in Israel," the letter reads.
The letter was sent by the association "Bashar" - which brings together about 2,000 faculty members and senior officials in higher education institutions. The chairman of the association is Prof. Hagit Maser-Yeron, the former president of the Open University, who also served as deputy chairman of the MLA. This is the first academic body to express public opposition to the processes led by the incoming government. So far, the committee of heads of the universities, the committee of the heads of the colleges, and the senior faculty members at the universities or the student union have not expressed their position.

Discount Bank will not grant credit to businesses and entities that discriminate against customers on the basis of religion, race, gender or sexual orientation - this is what the bank's board of directors stated.
  The bank has not yet published when the credit policy will actually change and what will be the exact mechanism by which the discrimination criterion will be implemented. This is the first business entity to go against the new government's apparent policy, centered on amending the discrimination law that will allow businesses to avoid providing service due to religious belief, thereby discriminating against customers. He was later joined by a series of girlfriends, including Wiz, Mor and Altshuler Shaham.
Shaul Kobrinsky, Chairman of the Discount Board of Directors, said: "We found it appropriate to amend the bank's credit policy, so that the obvious will become officially valid. According to the policy, Discount will not grant credit to businesses or entities that will attract customers in the State of Israel. This is our commitment and responsibility as a significant business entity in the Israeli economy."
The cyber unicorn Wiz, founded among others by Assaf Rapaport, also requires all its suppliers to commit to avoiding discrimination of any kind. In a statement issued by the company, it writes: "Wiz believes in and places at the center the values of equality and human dignity. The calls to erode these values as heard recently in the political arena in Israel are of great concern to the company, and we are committed to doing as much as we can to prevent discrimination of any kind."
Wiz emphasizes in the announcement that it will allow discrimination only when "this is required by the nature or essence of the product, service or place", and will not allow discrimination of any other kind even if the new government makes a different decision. The company added that "the contracting company will undertake to apply a similar commitment to all companies with which the contracting company has business relations", and emphasized that discrimination will be grounds for termination of the contract. "Wiz believes and hopes that the companies with whom it communicates the same fundamental values and that through cooperation and uniting the forces of the companies will be able to help and preserve an egalitarian society in Israel," the company concluded.
Michal Braverman-Blumenstick, CEO of Microsoft Israel Research and Development, wrote on her LinkedIn page: "Microsoft is a diverse house where racism does not enter. The reason for the company's success is diversity. I walk the corridors of Microsoft every day and see wonderful employees - Jews, Arabs, ultra-Orthodox, secular, LGBT, women and men - working side by side in brotherhood, professionalism, against the background of the basic understanding that everyone is equal. Israel is a democratic and moral country, and it must remain so It is an object of life. Discourse that encourages racism and discrimination of any kind has no place in a reformed society."
The investment committee of Mor Gamel and Pension updated its investment and credit policy, and decided that it will not invest or grant credit to a business or entity that it knows discriminates against customers.
Uri Keren, partner and chief investment officer at Mor Gamel and Pension, said that "the decision not to invest or grant credit to entities that discriminate on the basis of religion, race, gender or sexual orientation emphasizes our responsibility towards our customers and business partners, and the community in general."
As part of the Mor Group's social responsibility policy, the company stated that it works to promote gender equality and economic independence for women. As part of this, the group works in different ways, and among other things, Moore chose the actress Karen Moore for her campaign, with the aim of challenging the paradigm according to which money is a more "masculine" issue in its essence. The group also aims to integrate women into analysis and investment management positions in various ways, such as the publication of "wanted ads" in the female language and an introductory analysis course for women that it conducted in collaboration with Tel Aviv University.
In addition, the largest investment house in Israel, Altshuler Shaham, committed today not to contract or invest in a body that chose to discriminate against customers, employees, or resort to any discrimination against any sector. CEO Ran Shaham said: "As a business entity that has an impact on the Israeli economy, we see an obligation in taking responsibility for the social climate inside and outside the investment house. Altshuler Shaham promotes values of equality, diversity to all ends of the Israeli population, and as such does not allow discrimination of any kind."
Other companies that joined the move: AIG Israel, which announced that it has decided to stop insuring any business that engages in discrimination of any kind; and Nadav Zafarir's Team8 group, which announced that it will not purchase or trade in products from entities that are not in line with its values, chief among them the right to respect and equality; as well as Hami Peres' Pitango venture capital fund.