SentinelOne CEO Tomer Weingarten said that the disruption to its Israel operations should be modest amid the threat of further violence, following the devastating Hamas attacks over the weekend.
Part of the reason, Weingarten said, is that many Israelis are “sadly” not unfamiliar with situations of this sort — though he acknowledged that the country’s war effort does create some uncertainties.
[Related: Investors Eyeing Impacts To Israeli Tech Industry: Reports]
“The team obviously is bracing for war. And there’s people getting drafted,” he said during a session at the 2023 XChange Best of Breed Conference, hosted by CRN parent The Channel Company in Atlanta.
“But at the end of the day, the operations remain pretty much as is,” Weingarten said. “People are kind of accustomed to work under different situations — sadly, rocket launches and all of that is something that’s not entirely new for the State of Israel.”
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This weekend’s attacks against Israel by Hamas, a Palestinian group that the U.S. has termed a terrorist organization, reportedly killed at least 900. An estimated 150 people, including both soldiers and civilians, were abducted into Gaza.
Israel responded by declaring war against Hamas, launching airstrikes in Gaza and mobilizing 300,000 reservists.
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Investors have been keeping an eye on potential impacts to Israel’s tech industry, including cybersecurity vendors such as SentinelOne that have a major presence in the country.
SentinelOne was founded a decade ago by Israeli entrepreneurs including Weingarten, and continues to operate an office in Tel Aviv that serves as a technical hub. That location “benefits from Israel’s concentration of cybersecurity experts,” the company said in its most recent annual 10-K filing with the SEC. “This team draws from a deep pool of Israeli military cybersecurity and intelligence experts, product mavens, and general technical talent.”
During the session Tuesday, Weingarten said that for teams in Israel, “they’re pretty much trained to operate under” such circumstances.
Ultimately, “this is a reality that I think none of us would ever want in any country,” he said.