9 White & Case’s Turgel: “There any many reasons why investor appetite may have subdued over the past 18 months or so which are not Israel-specific. Nevertheless, investors have been very aware of the political climate.” Jeremy Seef, partner at ERM adds: “There seems to be a general nervousness about inward investment into Israeli tech at the moment, and this is not specific to the UK. For now, a lot of this nervousness arises due to uncertainty and no doubt, as the advancement or amendment of the proposed reforms become clearer, we expect the business relationships to settle, although likely with some shifts in focus. Notwithstanding, we are still seeing activity where the right opportunity arises.” Fellow partner, Marks at ERM goes on: “Political and legal developments relating to judicial reforms should continue to be monitored, as should the U.S.-China relationship which we have seen affect the business considerations of Israeli businesses for some time, in particular in the past year. In addition, the implementation of EU rules on platforms and digital markets, as well as the fast-moving AI landscape will continue to be important in terms of opportunities, and risk mitigation too.” There is scope for alignment and collaboration in this fast-moving sector – and we have explored the state of AI in our other main feature. Bird & Bird partner, Meisels, also indicated: "UK investors are concerned by the judicial reforms and the general uncertainty around how long Israel’s constitutional crisis will continue has likely impacted appetite from investors to some degree. That said, investors remain deeply interested in Israeli innovation and a number of our VC investor clients are continuing to actively explore investment opportunities in Israel and are raising new funds with Israel as a focus area." Gold of Charles Russell Speechlys adds: “The judicial reforms certainly have not been helpful to international investment in the short term, and that can be seen quite clearly in the markets. It is far too early to say how any of this will affect business and investment in Israel over the longer-term, and for the time-being it is a case of keeping a watching brief.”
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