Thread by @LahavHarkov

Netanyahu speaking at Davos now about Israel's vaccine rollout, saying that he got personally involved in the negotiations and that he didn't think it would be a big deal for Israel to agree to pay a bit more, bc as int'l demand went up the price would go up further.

Netanyahu also said Israel can serve as "a world lab for herb immunity" because its efficient health services distribute vaccines quickly.

(Speaking via video conference. Davos conference is online this year.)

Netanyahu spoke with Pfizer's CEO 21 times.

"I believe you really need to be personally involved, it's like checking munitions in a war."

Netanyahu said fast vaccine rollout is a "safe experiment" on how vaccination can help move economies forward.

He guesses that people will have to get coronavirus inoculations annually and wants to sign contracts so Israel will be prepared

Netanyahu said he shut down Israel's borders out of the fear that the vaccine may not protect against the new variants of COVID-19.

Merck CEO asks what other countries can learn from tech, innovation in Israel. Netanyahu says key is education, esp higher ed, but you also need free markets and be willing to take risks. Israel makes huge investment in IDF intelligence, many innovators come from there.

Netanyahu has had his arms crossed for most of this, which makes him look kind of irritated. He's usually very conscious of every detail when he speaks, so it's weird that he doesn't realize.

Netanyahu said countries should invest in armies that are based on "brains, not just brawn."

CEO of Al Dahra Holding in the UAE asks about Israel's agriculture and water tech. WEF President points out that last year, a CEO from the UAE probably wouldn't have asked Netanyahu a question at all.

Netanyahu on "economic peace" with the UAE: We barely signed the docs and 10s of 1000s of Israelis went to Dubai, the business people are going bananas. Emiratis are tremendously entrepreneurial and guided by a visionary leader, Muhammad bin Zayed.

Netanyahu seems to have forgotten the word Malthusian? But anyway points out that in Israel we have less rain and 10x as many people as we did in 1948. Mentions Israel top in the world in recycling wastewater, also leader in desalination. Now we have more water than we need.

Netanyahu: Corona showed us we're all in one boat. If we can plug the holes in the boat, we'll be better off.

Palo Alto Networks CEO, has big office in Tel Aviv, asks about Israeli cybersecurity industry and about ease of doing business.

Netanyahu said there was immense pressure to regulate cybersecurity in Israel the way the military industry is regulated and he resisted it, because cybersecurity needs touch almost every thing we do today. "So far, I've held the line. It's not easy."

Netanyahu: Cybersecurity presents new problems - problem of deterrence for big state actors is different from other kinds of attacks. Israel established a national defense agency, organized question of national defense vs business needs.

Netanyahu: "Conceptually one of the most challenging things...Defense against cyberattacks, especially state cyberattacks is complicated...I think that's becoming a big part" of national defense.

Netanyahu says the most important investment to make when it comes to cybersecurity is mathematics. And then he compares himself to the guy in The Graduate who talks about plastics, but for mathematics. (I LOL'ed)

This is the reference: