V-POL Domain Audit: Wix

Corporate Communications & Public Stance

Wix issued no standalone corporate statement formally condemning or endorsing the Israel-Gaza conflict through investor relations, press office, or CEO letter ¹. President & COO Nir Zohar, in a CTech/Calcalist interview, described Wix as “patriotic, but not neutral” with respect to Israel, framing the company’s disposition as one of “shared fate” with the Israeli state ². Wix provided a formal corporate comment to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) in November 2023 responding to inquiries about the “Supporting Israel Narrative” Slack channel and the termination of Courtney Carey, disputing characterizations of the channel as “propaganda” but not denying its existence ³. A documented asymmetry exists between Wix’s response to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine—issuing public statements, suspending service to Russian users, taking down Russian-hosted sites citing U.S. sanctions—and its response to the Gaza conflict, where no formal corporate condemnation or operational response has been identified ⁴. No evidence was identified of Wix issuing any corporate statement acknowledging the ICJ Advisory Opinion (July 2024) or ICC arrest warrants (November 2024), or adjusting its operational or advocacy posture in response ⁵. The FY2024 20-F filing contains standard geopolitical risk-factor language referencing “military conflict” in Israel but does not specifically address the ICJ or ICC proceedings ⁵.

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

Wix is not listed in the UN OHCHR Settlement Database, which contains 158 businesses as of September 2025 ⁶. No Wix profile exists in the Who Profits Research Center database of companies involved in settlement activities ⁷. As a global SaaS platform, Wix’s services are technically accessible to users in Israeli settlements; however, no evidence of targeted commercial activity, dedicated settlement-area service contracts, or settlement-sector marketing was identified. Wix’s primary Israeli operational footprint is concentrated in Tel Aviv (headquarters) and Be’er Sheva (Advanced Technologies Park), both within Israel’s internationally recognized pre-1967 borders ⁵. No public evidence identified of Wix being named in any OECD National Contact Point complaint, EU regulatory action, or UN Special Rapporteur report specifically concerning operations in occupied territories.

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

Courtney Carey, a Customer Care Team Lead at Wix’s Dublin office, was terminated in October 2023 after posting comments on LinkedIn describing Israel as a “terrorist state” and criticizing the bombing of Gaza, with screenshots circulated internally before the termination decision ⁸⁹. The Irish Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found the dismissal “procedurally unfair” and awarded €35,000 compensation on July 22, 2024 ⁸¹⁰. An internal Slack channel named “Supporting Israel Narrative” was created following October 7, 2023, with the stated purpose of encouraging Wix employees to produce pro-Israel videos and creative campaigns, with internal guidance reportedly advising participants not to foreground Palestinian casualty numbers in their messaging ³¹. Wix’s BHRRC comment disputed the characterization of the channel as “propaganda” but did not deny its existence ³. Wix’s publicly available Content Guidelines prohibit content that “promotes, glorifies, or celebrates acts of violence or the groups that commit them,” but contain no specific provisions addressing geopolitical conflict, occupation, or related categories ¹¹. No independent academic studies, regulatory inquiries, or documented third-party audits of Wix’s hosting-moderation practices specifically concerning Palestinian content were identified. No evidence was identified of additional employee terminations, disciplinary actions, or collective labor action at Wix relating to the conflict beyond the Carey case through April 2026.

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

Nir Zohar serves as Chairman of the Israel Growth Forum, a coalition of leading Israeli tech companies (including Fiverr and Similarweb) that coordinates directly with the Israeli government on technology policy ¹². This constitutes a documented ongoing institutional relationship between a named Wix officer and the Israeli state, operating post-ICJ Advisory Opinion and post-ICC arrest warrants. Wix discloses receipt of grants from the Israel Innovation Authority under programs broadly available to Israeli technology companies as R&D subsidies ⁵. Wix VP of Design & Branding Hagit Kaufman appeared as a speaker at the “SHOW 2025” summit alongside the Chief Marketing Officer of the IIA in 2025. The FY2024 20-F confirms ongoing IIA grant arrangements subject to standard conditions, with prior filings disclosing IIA grants in the range of tens of millions of USD cumulatively ⁵¹³. CEO Avishai Abrahami attended an event organized by “Voice of the People,” a pro-Israel public diplomacy initiative launched by Israeli President Isaac Herzog in collaboration with the World Zionist Organization (WZO) and Jewish Agency, in autumn/winter 2023-2024 ¹. The WZO has formal legal responsibilities for settlement activity in the West Bank under Israeli law. Wix does not publicly utilize military heritage, defense sector contracts, or intelligence service origins as commercial marketing themes in its consumer-facing branding ¹.

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

Wix allocated staff time and platform infrastructure to build and host over 180 websites for war-related causes, commencing within days of the October 7 attacks ¹¹⁴. Documented site categories included: support for active military units, transportation and logistics of military equipment, civilian evacuation and welfare coordination, hostage family support infrastructure, international advocacy and narrative campaigns, and agricultural assistance ¹. Following October 7, 2023, Wix granted stock options described as worth “tens of thousands of shekels” each to employees called up for IDF reserve duty, beyond statutory requirements ². This represents a documented corporate financial incentive tied to IDF service. Wix donated NIS 105,000 to United Hatzalah for personal protective equipment in the immediate aftermath of October 7 ¹⁴. Total reported corporate donations in the post-October 7 period are cited at approximately NIS 650,000 across multiple organizations, though the FY2024 20-F does not contain an itemized breakdown ¹. Wix partnered with World Central Kitchen to serve dinner to released hostages and their families in Tel Aviv ¹⁵. No evidence was identified of equivalent crisis asset mobilization directed toward Palestinian civil society, humanitarian organizations operating in Gaza, or international bodies such as the ICRC or UNRWA during the period October 2023 through April 2026. Based on available information, no Wix.com entity appears as a registrant lobbyist under the US Lobbying Disclosure Act, and Wix does not appear to employ retained US lobbying firms filing on its behalf ⁵.

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

Wix.com Ltd. is incorporated in Israel as a publicly traded company, listed on NASDAQ under ticker WIX ⁵. Its stated corporate mission in 20-F filings is commercial: providing website creation and online business infrastructure to individuals and businesses globally. No evidence was found in articles of incorporation, 20-F SEC filings, or public corporate charter of a state-held “golden share,” state equity stake, or founding mandate explicitly linking the company’s primary mission to Israeli state geopolitical objectives ⁵. Major institutional shareholders include standard global asset managers (Vanguard, BlackRock), and no Israeli state entity appears as a material shareholder in disclosed ownership records ⁵.

Executive & Leadership Footprint

Avishai Abrahami (Co-Founder & CEO) is documented as a veteran of Unit 8200, the IDF’s signals intelligence unit, and in a Forbes profile described participating in hacking operations during his service in the 1990s, breaching “enemy state” computers ¹⁶. He attended the “Voice of the People” event and publicly reposted social media content defending Israeli military conduct ¹. Nir Zohar (President & COO) is a former Israeli Navy officer who served as Chief Engineer on a missile boat ¹². His current role at Wix was transitioning by 2024, and he serves as Chairman of Israel Growth Forum ¹². In a CTech interview, he characterized Courtney Carey’s speech as “unfathomable, unexplainable and unacceptable” ⁹. The Board of Directors consists of nine directors: eight independent non-executive directors (Mark Tluszcz as Independent Board Chair, Ron Gutler, Allon Bloch, Deirdre Bigley, Ferran Soriano, Diane Greene, Francesco de Mojana, Gavin Patterson) plus CEO Avishai Abrahami ¹⁷. Michal Sarig-Kaduri (Head of Government Relations) is a former Deputy Ambassador of Israel to Singapore and leads the Israel Growth Forum ¹.

End Notes