Client updates /  International Law

In May, a US federal court ordered Israeli firm NSO Group to pay $168 million to WhatsApp. The ruling raises key questions about US jurisdiction over foreign companies and defense tech regulation.

The Supreme Court noted that, by its nature, the essence of a brokerage transaction is joining two parties into one transaction. Therefore, treating the transaction as providing a service to each party separately—a foreign resident and an Israeli resident—does not reflect the true economic essence of the service.

The United States, the European Union, and other countries have been imposing economic sanctions on Israel for quite some time. The recent sanctions imposed on Israeli settlers suspected or convicted of committing violence against Palestinians may be a harbinger of a broad regime of sanctions that may affect business activities in Israel.

Israeli companies in the “risk zone” must ascertain if they are subject to sanctions and adopt a significant sanctions compliance plan.

The economic sanctions the United States has imposed on Russia have possible implications for the Israeli business community.