Veil of Secrecy Surrounds Apple’s CEO Tim Cook’s Trip to Israel
by David Daoud
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook took a secret trip to Israel this weekend, arriving in the Jewish state for the inauguration of Apple’s new offices in Herzliya, slated to open on Tuesday, Israel’s Channel 2 reported.
Apple already has offices in Ra’anana and Haifa.
The company’s offices in Herzliya will house over 800 employees, and will include a gourmet restaurant and a fishpond, and will have greenery everywhere. Cook will be speaking at the inaugural event on Tuesday, which will be attended by a thousand of Apple’s employees in Israel.
Apple has been trying to keep Cook’s visit a secret, as part of the general secrecy it is maintaining around the entire event on Tuesday. Senior company employees were instructed not to mention the event. Junior employees were not informed at all and are expected to receive an invitation at the last moment. Apple apparently wants to surprise the employees with Cook’s speech.
While Apple is working to keep everything about the speech a secret, Cook, who plans to stay in Israel for a while, has spent his time dining in Tel-Aviv’s restaurants, enjoying the anonymity, since most people don’t recognize him. In the lead up to the inauguration, Cook has tried to maintain a low public profile, staying with his partner at a boutique hotel in central Tel-Aviv. He spent Saturday visiting the Tel-Aviv Museum, and commented on how impressed he was by the local art, according to the Channel 2 report.