Good reason for fear
Employment, education issues threaten State of Israel’s future
Every day they scare us that Israel is about to vanish. On Sunday it’s Iran. On Monday it’s Hamas’ and Hezbollah’s missiles. On Tuesday it’s the Palestinian state. On Wednesday it’s the Syrian reactor. On Thursday it’s Obama. On Friday it’s the earthquake that will surely come and kill tens of thousands of people. On Shabbat we rest a little, and on Sunday we go back to fearing.
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A report about the state of the country recently published by the Taub Center, which researched social policy in Israel, joins the fear list. Big time. The report, which is premised on Central Bureau of Statistics data, refers to domestic processes within Israeli society that will destroy it should they not be reversed.
One aspect is employment: The employment figures for men in Israel are among the lowest in the Western world. A second figure is the student population: Should the trends of the past decade continue in 30 years, 78% of elementary school students will be either ultra-Orthodox or Arab. Only 14% will study in the national school system (today, about 50% of students are either Orthodox in the independent school system or Arabs).
A third aspect is the quality of students: The achievements of Israel’s students are among the lowest in the West. A fourth aspect is the standard of living, which keeps rising yet faces constant decline compared to developed countries. The fifth aspect is public expenditure on health, which keeps on declining.
A large part of the problem has to do with two sectors whose weight in the population rises rapidly: The Arabs and the ultra-Orthodox. The impressive growth in these two groups in recent years should have topped the ghetto walls that separate them from most Israelis. Yet it didn’t happen.
Some 27% of Arab men are not working. The figure for Arab women stands at 75%. The situation is worse in the haredi sector: 65% of ultra-Orthodox men are not working (the figure for women is lower – 53%). According to the report, even if we don’t take these two sectors into account, Israel’s employment rate lags behind all Western countries.
Political walls
The Taub Center’s director, Professor Dan Ben-David, is convinced that within a few years Israelis won’t be able to carry the unproductive sectors on their backs. We’ll see a social explosion. The question is whether the explosion will take place early enough, when it’s still possible to fix things.
The solutions are quite clear: We need to integrate Israeli Arabs, both men and women, into the job market. This requires great investment in education and training; it also requires doors to be opened for them. We need to minimize the number of foreign workers. We need to turn the haredi community from a sector that studies (or seemingly studies) to a sector that works.
Meanwhile, haredi schools must teach the core curriculum. We must invest much more in education in general.
One of the means that will encourage people to join the workforce is the minimization of government allowances to families with many children and to yeshiva students. Yet sanctions aren’t sufficient. We need to provide incentives for people to start working.
The wall that these moves will be crashing against is political. The ultra-Orthodox rabbis and the politicians who are subordinated to them are still unwilling to recognize the responsibility that comes with size. They sit in the coalition in order to thwart any initiative that will change their situation. When they heard about the above-mentioned report they stuck their head in the sand. For good measure, they accused the Taub Center of anti-haredi hatred.
The government, in its current makeup, cannot provide a response to this challenge. A paralyzed government creates a vacuum, and this vacuum draws politicians with aspirations. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai delivered a scathing speech Sunday against the haredi ghetto walls. He did not bring down the walls, yet the speech may attest to his future aspirations.
Israel’s revolutionary era has ended a while ago. There’s immense difficulty in changing habits. Hence, it’s hard to believe that this report, or other reports, would prompt change. Besides, why should we fear what will happen 10 years from now when we can fear next year’s Iran?
