The promised land needs people

摘要

This month Teva, an Israeli drug firm, announced that it had poached a new boss, Jeremy Levin, from Bristol-Myers Squibb, an American rival. Mr Levin is exactly the kind of immigrant Israel needs. He swotted at Oxford and Cambridge and has run companies in New York. He has lived in six countries and has contacts in dozens. And he loves Israel. "The opportunity to live and work in Israel", he said, "is compelling." The dynamism of Israeli business owes much to immigration. In the decade after the Soviet Union collapsed, lm immigrants flocked to Israel. This huge influx of energy and talent helped kick-start Israel's start-up boom.