Crisis over Netanyahu’s judiciary overhaul is hitting Israel’s once-flourishing economy
- Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial policies have unleashed a slew of risks for Israel’s economy
- Israel’s hi-tech sector as been a driving force in the protests against the government’s moves
Full-page ads in solid black covered the fronts of Israel’s major newspapers Tuesday. Doctors walked out on strike, and the Israeli currency and stock market sank as the country braced for dangerous economic fallout from the government’s efforts to weaken courts.
Political turmoil that sent tens of thousands of protesters into the streets for the last six months is also pulling down Israel’s economy, investors and experts said.
A law passed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition government stripping power from the Supreme Court brought warnings from critics about a slide into autocracy – and from international credit agencies and the country’s high tech industry about Israel’s economic future.
Since the judicial reform crisis began six months ago, the value of the shekel, the Israeli currency, has fallen to a three-year low and the stock market has fallen by 10 per cent, according to Reuters.
In recent days, the TA-35 Index, the top 35 companies with the highest market value on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, dropped 4 per cent.
