Tech CEOs join outcry against Netanyahu over refusal to accept blame

The Israeli CEO of tech firm WalkMe is joining MobilEye founder Amnon Shashua in calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down following his government’s failures in the lead-up to the October 7 Hamas massacres, and other tech leaders are harshly criticizing the premier for refusing to accept responsibility.

“Netanyahu needs to go as soon as possible, despite the idea that ‘you don’t switch [leaders] during a war’ and ‘we shouldn’t talk about this now,'” Dan Adika tells the Calclalist financial daily, accusing the government of failing to operate in the wake of the assault. “He’s not fit to lead and needs to go.”

Adika and the other CEOs, including Joel Bar-El of Trax and Oz Alon of Honeybook, take particular umbrage at a tweet posted by Netanyahu appearing to blame the country’s security apparatus for failing to see the attacks coming, which Netanyahu subsequently apologized for following an outcry.

“As CEO, the responsibility is always on me, I can’t blame managers below me. The prime minister is the CEO and the disaster occurred on his watch,” Tom Livne, head of Verbit, tells the paper. “Our prime minister is disconnected from the reality on the ground and just looking for whom to blame.”