Netanyahu: 'Not Worried' About Fleeing Tech

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the prospect of the cancel culture movement of tech entrepreneurs out of Israel amid his judicial reforms and the leftist push against it.

"Truthfully, no, I'm not worried, because Israel is a fount of technology, is a fount of innovation," Netanyahu told CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" on Sunday. "Some of them who said they'd moved the money out, lost the money.

"I don't know if they put it in the Silicon Valley Bank, but Israel is a safe place. I think we're very proud of the fact that we've built here a real robust and responsible free market economy."

Netanyahu rejected the opposition to his judicial reforms, saying the protests are hyped up and based on hyperbole.

"The worry that I think was reflected in the beginning and is hyped up as though the independence of the judiciary will any way be compromised: That's false; it's not going to happen," Netanyahu continued. "There is a difference between an independent judiciary, which Israel must always have, and an all-powerful judiciary.

"And I think people are beginning to recognize, when I look at what is happening, they recognize that Israel's future economically, including in the high-tech sector, is going to be secure."

Netanyahu, as Israel celebrates its 75th anniversary, admits he has "occasional disagreements" with President Joe Biden, but the alliance with the U.S. remains strong.

Netanyahu's religious-nationalist coalition has pushed to rein in Israel's Supreme Court, setting off concern over judicial independence. He says the legislation, currently on hold, aims to balance branches of government.

"Most of the supporters of judicial reform that are now encompassing vast majority of the public — not the details, but the need for judicial reform — agreed it should be somewhere in the middle, which is a hard task," Netanyahu said. "But that is what democracies are about. You argue; you fight; verbally, you negotiate; and hopefully you find a consensus."

As for peace in the Middle East, Netanyahu predicts historic progress.

"I'm very hopeful — and I believe that this is not pie in the sky — that we will actually expand the historic Abraham Accords in an quantum leap, because I think that peace with Saudi Arabia, normalization with Saudi Arabia, is in the interest of peace in the Middle East, and in the interest of both of our countries," he said.

"People had problem seeing the impossible turn into the inevitable. I'm saying now that peace with the major Arab countries is not only possible, I think it's likely. And I'm doing everything I can — not everything above surface — to advance it, because I think it'll change history.

"It'll be pivot of history. It'll end the Arab-Israeli conflict and it will advance the solution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."