Coronavirus lockdown 2.0 deepens divisions in Israel

He has laid off 16 of his 17 employees.By contrast, Israeli software maker Bizzabo, which operates in the hard-hit conference-management sector, quickly reinvented itself last spring by offering “virtual events.” It has more than doubled its sales and is expanding its workforce.Such tales of boom and bust reflect Israel’s growing “digital divide.”Even before the pandemic, Israel had one of the largest income gaps and poverty rates among developed economies, with a few high earners, mostly in the lucrative high-tech sector, while many Israelis barely get by as civil servants, in service industries or as small business owners.Those gaps have widened as the second nationwide lockdown, imposed last month, dealt a new blow to an economy already hit hard by the first round of restrictions. The software allows participants at large online gatherings to network or break away for private meetings, just as they would at an old-fashioned business conference.“Everyone knew the events industry could disappear unless we invented, in a way, the event technology space,” he said, speaking from New York.