Why can't Israeli Substack writers access paid subscriptions on Substack

And no, it has nothing to do with antisemitism

There are many Israeli writers on Substack. And we cannot set up our accounts to allow us paid subscriptions because Stripe, the payment platform used by Substack, does not provide service in Israel. There is nothing antisemitic in this as Stripe is so far available in only 46 countries.

Israeli who have a bank account in any of those 46 countries can probably set up their paid subscriptions to go through any of those. I do not.

For an Israeli with only an Israeli bank account, you can go through the numerous convoluted hoops to set up an American bank account. You also need an American phone number, mailing address, SIN, and more. If you are more ambitious than I am about going through those hoops, click here to see what to do.

Patrick Collison, co-founder and CEO of Stripe loves Israel.

I retweeted this post and asked him, if he loves Israel so much, maybe he can see about having Stripe offer us payment services.

Perhaps that is what he was doing here, actually.

Here is what Globes suggested:

At any rate, the question arises, what is Stripe looking for in Israel? It may be that the company, which has never officially been active in Israel, plans to apply to the Bank of Israel for a clearer’s license, which would enable it to operate in the local market. Stripe is not connected to the Israeli financial system, and it is not possible to clear payments via the company to an Israeli bank account. The reason is not unwillingness on the part of the company, but apparently technological and regulatory difficulties in the Israel market. [emphasis added]

Another possibility is a planned acquisition that will provide a research and development center for Stripe in Israel. Israeli company Rapyd, based in Tel Aviv, is a competitor of Stripe, and is a large digital clearer in Asian countries, the Middle East, and in general in countries where Stripe has encountered difficulties in operating as a clearer because of regulatory restrictions. Two fraud prevention technology companies in the field of payment clearing have significant presences in Israel: Riskified and Forter. Competitor PayPal already maintains a development center in Israel.

Of course, the first possibility is what is of interest to me. I doubt that there are technological difficulties behind the lack of Stripe operations here and so it seems that our own bureaucracy is to blame.

Given that strong possibility, perhaps if all of us Israeli writers find where we can lobby — just which MKs/cabinet minister/government agency directors to whom we can apply pressure — maybe we can get that changed.

I am certainly looking forward to when Stripe can provide service in Israel or Substack decides to change its payment platform to a company that can. Getting official paid subscriptions is certainly more comfortable than having to ask people to go out of their way and give us donations through paypal or Ko-fi or such.

You know, like I do at the end of each article….

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Because Israel is not supported on the Substack payment platform, I have set up an alternative for those who want to support my work.

You can make one-time or repeated donations in your own currency using Paypal (Buy me a Coffee, above) or the Ko-fi payment platform here. Israelis can send me a private message for another option.

Articles will always be free for all subscribers but a one-time or repeated donation is a way to help me sustain myself while doing all the work involved in putting these articles together and would be greatly appreciated.

Thank-you to all those who have supported my work by subscribing and/or by donating coffees.