Wix and Wiz are quintessential Israeli success stories. Founded in 2010, website builder Wix is one of the country’s best-known tech companies, and among the sector’s most highly valued on New York’s Nasdaq stock exchange. Wiz, a much-hyped cybersecurity company launched a decade later, reached a $10 billion valuation in two years, almost half the time it took the likes of Uber and Snapchat.

But the companies’ paths are forking. Wix is doubling down on Israel; Wiz is cutting ties.

For the past seven months, Israel has been locked in a political crisis. In January, Benjamin Netanyahu—in his sixth term as prime minister and backed by a coalition that includes far-right parties—introduced a bill designed to weaken the powers of the country’s supreme court. Supporters of the plan say it’s needed to prevent the court from intervening in politics. Critics say weakening the reform will erode democracy and hand unchecked power to the government. Despite huge protests, Israel’s lawmakers backed the first part of the judicial overhaul this week.

This conflict has been felt sharply in the “Startup Nation”—a name conferred by Israel’s influential tech sector. Many tech workers have been involved in protests against the judicial reform bill, and executives have openly expressed fears about the effect it could have on economic and social stability. Before the vote, around 200 tech companies pledged to join the protests. Yesterday, the day after the vote, a group called the Hi-Tech Protest movement paid for ads to black out the front pages of at least four different newspapers, declaring a “black day for democracy.”

“The Israeli high-tech industry is very involved, very engaged in what’s going on,” says Merav Bahat, CEO of the cyber security company Dazz. She says she supports employees who have taken time off work to strike or attend protests.

Data, published on the weekend by Start-Up Nation Central, a nonprofit that promotes Israeli tech abroad, shows that almost 70 percent of Israeli startups are taking measures to distance themselves from their home country, withdrawing cash or moving their legal headquarters overseas.

Wix says it’s staying. “We’ll stay here and fight for what’s right,” Nir Zohar, cofounder and chief operations officer, told WIRED in an interview in May. The company confirmed this month that its position holds.

But Zohar says the judicial reform has introduced uncertainty for not just investors but also people who want to live a liberal life in Israel. Zohar said it’s “scary” and “has a massive impact on the kind of talent that at the end of the day populates the tech industry.” This week, Wix employees joined a general strike to protest the outcome of the vote.

The decision to stay is increasingly rare. More than 50 percent of new companies established in March 2023—the same month the bill advanced through Israel’s parliament, the Knesset—were incorporated as foreign companies, rather than Israeli ones, according to a May report by the Israel Innovation Authority. Fewer Israeli startups means less tax revenue for the government, the authority warned.