Netanyahu’s AI recruit won’t run for Knesset after US citizenship issue emerges
Oren Dobronsky says he has agreed to work with the prime minister as part of the Likud team but will not seek a parliamentary seat. Renouncing his American citizenship could have resulted in a potentially multimillion-dollar U.S. exit tax.
High-tech entrepreneur Oren Dobronsky has decided not to run for the Knesset on the Likud list in the upcoming elections, despite receiving an endorsement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and being offered a spot among the list’s top candidates.
“Friends, the Prime Minister asked me two months ago to join the Likud team in the upcoming elections, and so it will be,” Dobronsky wrote in a Facebook post.
Dobronsky has lived in the United States and founded companies there since 2000, and has accumulated most of his fortune in the country. As a result, he could potentially face a tax bill running into millions of dollars.
The issue raises a question in Israel’s political establishment: In order to serve in the Knesset, and potentially later take responsibility for advancing artificial intelligence in Israel, will Dobronsky be willing to accept the financial cost of giving up his U.S. citizenship?
The question could become particularly significant if, after the election, Benjamin Netanyahu is not part of the government and Dobronsky finds himself serving in the opposition. Dobronsky could not be reached for comment on Wednesday evening. The Likud did not respond to a request for comment.
Netanyahu announced on Tuesday that Dobronsky, a high-tech entrepreneur who is also known for appearing on the television program “Shark Tank,” will be placed 11th on the Likud's Knesset list, ahead of several senior party figures. Dobronsky is expected to take responsibility for promoting artificial intelligence policy.
The Likud said Dobronsky is “a successful businessman, one of the founders of high-tech in Israel and a right-winger” and that he will join the party’s team and, after the election, lead the issue of artificial intelligence in the economy, education, medicine and other sectors of the state.
Calcalist previously reported that, because of his wealth and assets in the United States, where he has lived and done business for many years, renouncing his citizenship could expose him to a U.S. “exit tax” potentially amounting to millions of dollars.
Dobronsky is one of the founders of Internet company Hotbar, which has operated since the late 1990s. He later founded and invested in other technology companies in the United States and Israel.
It should be noted that even to be appointed as a minister, Dobronsky would have to renounce his American citizenship, raising questions about whether he would be willing to do so given the taxes he could face.
