Israeli manufacturers are facing a new form of ‘technological apartheidism,’ as foreign technicians are refusing to travel to Israel to deal with industrial machinery that originated from outside of Israel. Israel’s ynet news conducted a review which found all three levels—installation, maintenance, and repair—are suffering, and that the “disruption spans nearly every branch of Israeli manufacturing.” It mentioned in particular, “steel, plastics and food.”
Part of the problem is that companies report insurance problems, as Israel is counted as a war zone; but politics is also a factor. Italian labor authorities have ruled against such travel and Italy’s Ministry of Economics punted, ruling that the “classification of Israel as a war zone is a diplomatic matter and does not fall under the Ministry’s authority.”
Israel produces only a small portion of its factories’ machinery, according to Dr. Ron Tomer, a former president of the Manufacturers Association of Israel. He cited a factory jam up for the lack of a specialized blade for precision machining and concluded: “This is an insane crisis that the Foreign Ministry must address.”
According to the owner of the Rav-Bariach Group, Shmuel Donnerstein, the situation is catastrophic. His company is trying to build a new glass-processing plant, but “the technicians are supposed to come from Italy, and they are not coming.” They “bought production lines from Italy, Austria, Spain and China,” but to no avail. “Here too, the technicians do not come, and when they do, they leave as quickly as possible.” And, separately, a production line for door-frames shut down a month ago. Donnerstein explained: “They are supposed to fly technicians to us, but that is not happening. We try to make the repairs ourselves, but we are not always successful because this is not our field of expertise. Under these conditions, industry can’t operate normally.”
Tzuri Dabush, owner of a company that develops and manufactures aluminum systems, explained: “Manufacturing has been hit extremely hard, and the country will pay for it in the future. Some companies are seeing production disrupted, while others are deciding to build new lines abroad.” He added: “There are acts of sabotage that no one talks about... Containers carrying Israeli exports are unloaded at transit ports, supposedly by mistake.”
Finally, after an in-person tour of Israeli factories, the president of the Manufacturers Association of Israel, Avraham Novogrotzky, reported: “You see machines that are simply shut down. Israeli teams need to be trained, but for now there is no solution. Manufacturers that cannot find some kind of workaround are left with a machine that simply does not operate.”
