Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Deputy Prime Minister of China, Liu Yandong, two years ago at the opening of the Israel-China Innovation Conference in the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, on March 29, 2016. Photo: Haim Zach/GPO.

CTech – Israel may soon have to take sides between the US and China, and technology will serve as a weapon in this struggle, CEO of LeumiTech Yifat Oron said Thursday, speaking at Calcalist’s Mind the Tech conference in New York. “In terms of the Israeli tech world, we are exactly halfway between the US and China,” Oron added.

“I’m not sure that we Israelis can actually stay ambivalent in terms of where the money comes from,” Oron said.

Leumitech is the technology banking arm of Israeli Bank Leumi.

The Israeli tech ecosystem was lucky to have US investment flowing for many years, Oron said, “But guess what? China did exactly the same, although about 15-20 years later.”