Many companies in Israel are small family businesses – especially in the region near Gaza. But there is fighting there and numerous shops and companies are closed. The fact that Israel is a very innovative country helps in this situation.
In the Daniel Hotel in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, refugees from Israel’s south sit in the lobby and chat. They are happy not to be near the Gaza Strip – where they actually live and where there is now fighting.
Inbal comes from the city of Ashkelon, which is just a few kilometers from Gaza and is home to 130,000 residents. She runs an electronics store there with her husband. At the beginning of the war, she fled with him and their five sons from the rockets and terrorists after sleepless nights in the bunker.
“Our store is closed. We sell refrigerators in Ashkelon, but no one has come to buy anything. We can’t say to our employees, come to work. It’s very dangerous and people are terribly afraid. I’m closed Told my husband, ‘close up shop’. If someone has a heart attack or gets hurt, it’s our fault.”
The duration of the war is crucial
The trauma of the war and the lack of income not only affect many families, but also small family businesses in Israel. About three quarters of companies in Israel are run by families. They are the ones who support the economy around Gaza and in the north of the country, says Israeli economic expert Dan Ben-David from the Shoresh Institute at Tel Aviv University.
Hundreds of thousands have fled the embattled regions and can no longer go to work. The companies remained closed and many thousands did not work because they fought as soldiers in the war, said Ben-David: “The question is, how long will they be in the army and what war damage will there be in Israel?”
It is also important whether Hezbollah joins the war, Ben-David continued. Hezbollah could flatten half of Israel “like a parking lot.” Israel could do the same thing to Hezbollah in a counterattack, says the economic expert: “If it happens, it will be terrible. I prefer to say that if this war is limited in time, Israel’s economy can recover from it.”
According to Ben-David, it was the willingness of the people in the country to help that cushioned the failures of the Netanyahu government at the start of the war. Groups that had previously organized protests against the judicial reform coordinated donations overnight and cooked for the soldiers. IT professionals used artificial intelligence to search for traces of missing people in Hamas videos on the Internet.
Size Willingness to help and Innovative power
Israel’s innovative strength is also helpful in war, says Sagi Balasha. His non-profit organization “Ogen”, which means anchor, raises loans and bonds for needy families and family businesses that would otherwise never receive them in times of war. “Ogen” has recently started offering you interest-free loans.
Balasha came up with the idea during the Corona pandemic: “We mix donations with commercial money. We take out loans from banks and insurance companies and issue bonds. The reason why someone gives us money during the war is because we have the risk of loan default Securing donations. If a loan is not repaid, we pay the bank back the money from donations. Our loans are designed to help over several years. If the loans are repaid, we can recycle and reuse the money and help even more people.”
Ogen received more than 4,000 inquiries for the interest-free loans with a term of five years in the first 72 hours. In just one week, the organization raised donations that secured 1,000 interest-free loans for war-affected families and 100 loans for family businesses. There will be more, says Balasha. His organization is preparing for a long war.
“Even in peacetime, it is difficult for a small business to get a loan with reasonable interest rates. With us, everyone in Israel is entitled to an interest-free loan if they can prove that they have been affected by the war. Even if you run a coffee kiosk in Tel Aviv and you have to close because the sirens are going off and the rockets are coming. Then you need help. We try to help everyone,” explains Balasha.
A long road back to normality
Inbal from Ashkelon, whose electronics store has been closed since the start of the war, only wants to accept help if it is absolutely necessary, she says. She wants to take care of her family now. The company has to wait.
“The children are terribly afraid to go back. They can’t sleep. Last night my son asked me to stay awake until he fell asleep. When we heard that Hamas was in Ashkelon, everyone ran into their bunkers and took them Held on the left side of the door. It’s crazy.”
Inbal only wants to go back to Ashkelon to her shop if Israel defeats the terrorists.