Benny Gaon welcomes ‘Mizrahi revolution’
‘Colonialist business mentality’ slammed
Jewish-Israeli business mentality hinders cooperation with Arabs, top businessman Benny Gaon says; leading industrialist: Israel needs more Arab lawyers, high-tech professionals
The failure of joint businesses with Arabs is also Israel's failure, because Israel has a lot more to gain, leading businessman Benny Gaon said during the Jewish-Arab Business Conference organized by the Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development.
Gaon added that the joint businesses also fail due to the "colonialist business mentality" of Jewish-Israeli businesspeople.
According to Gaon, the mentality of Israelis of Middle-Eastern descent is different and more similar to the way in which business should be conducted with Arabs, for whom the test of confidence and work is important.
However, Gaon said, Israelis of Middle Eastern descent have repressed that approach and adopted a more Western, aggressive style of conduct.
He added that he believes Israel has been undergoing a positive Mizrahi (Middle Eastern) revolution in the past 10 years. This revolution will be followed by the Arab revolution, which will constitute an important step toward Israel's integration into the Middle East, he said.
'Arabs have huge business potential'
Leading industrialist Dov Lautman said in the conference that Israel should aim to ensure five percent of the lawyers in the country's big law firms will be Arabs within three years.
He added that the same goal should be set for high-tech companies, which do not hire Arabs despite the fact that there are plenty of engineering and computing graduates, who are not hired and become teachers instead.
Affirmative action is not necessary, Lautman said, but it would not hurt.
The conference was attended by approximately 350 Jewish and Arab businesspeople, entrepreneurs and officials who discussed ways to eliminate the huge gap between the Arab and Jewish economy.
Helmi Kittani, Co-Director of the Center for Jewish Arab Economic Development, said the people who attended the conference are well aware of the Arabs' huge business potential.
He added that the Arab population is becoming a prominent player in the consumer and entrepreneurial market.
In spite of all these changes, Kittani said, young Arabs do not become part of the workforce and the Jewish business sector does not cooperate with the Arab business sector.
