That's twice the blow to the economy.

of course religious men don't want to work in such offices as I had to work: promiscuity, immodest dress and behavior, overt dislike of religious people, etc. I worked in this country for 30 years and had to endure antisemitism like I never saw in USA. Clean up the Israeli work place and make it a place where religious men can fit into and they will come. until then, lump it.

No need of ultra orthodox in israel !!! Wait for the mashiah somewhere els We will call you when he is back Please do not hold your breath he is no coming soon

Instead of putting the haredi in the army like some kind of punishment to suit Lapid for who its personal not about sharing the burden as he sold it to the voters Lets help the haredi and the country by creating a civilian national service in which theyi can learn skills for getting civilian jobs which the army won't give them. We can also put the Tel Aviv draft dodgers and the arabs in civilian service. The army doesn't want the haredi because of the cost involved but they do want government butt out of who they do take. Even if the haredi want t go get jobs without skills they can't but in a civilian national service they can learn them. If the haredi object to military service the government cannot win so they will be spending money & Knesset time trying to find a solution and still get nothing because the haredi object.

The arab fertilty rate went "south" to 3 kids and the jewish one went up to 3 kids thus the arab populaton growth slowed to around 2 % per year. 10 years ago it stood at 3,6 % thus the problem will be solved soon. the next 5 years will be critical bc the fertilty rate will go south even further, it will be at around 2,5 kids per women whil ethe jewish one will stay at around 3 kids thus Israel will have a solid path. While Ms. Flug might be right for the the last ten years it is already old news. And Europe has ONE problem: No kids, no future!

If they were a little hungrier they'd be more willing to work. The reductions on the payouts for these programs could be used to cut taxes to free up capital for those that have been working all along.

This result is to be expected. As I wrote in Feb. 2011... "The State of Israel cannot operate in a vacuum. The level of the general welfare is connected to the state of the peace process. When people feel safe and they have hope for they future they spend and invest. If the correct moves are made at the right time the country will benefit. The perpetual war/chaos economy is a limited one that may enrich some but restricts many others. Things will stall in Israel if regional growth stagnates." Prescient nachon ? Now let's fast forward to the present day. The various GDP's in the region are : Israel US$292.7 billion; Jordan $31.01 B; Syria $96.53 B; Lebanon $53.81 B; Gaza $4 B; Saudi Arabia $600.4 B; Egypt $452.5 Billion. Thus the total GDP of these eight areas is approx. $1.5 Trillion. This can increase by at least 5% per annum from 2016 onwards if vision, courage trust building unfolds and the correct management paradigm is heeded. Beware a vacuum of these qualities at the top/centre.

Israel's candle is burning from both ends. The Haredi population is increasing, the Arab population is increasing, life expectancy is increasing. Young people who see no future are leaving, the brain drain continues and increasing numbers of successful businessmen are leaving. This is all a recipe for the collapse of society. Pessimism ? Just the facts.

So sayeth the previous BOI chief and numerous others. There is even an Amuta which was founded in 2005 by the JDC called Tevet - Tnufah BiTaasuka to deal with the issue.

maybe it's time to stop compelling Israeli citizens to enlist in the army for several years before they may enter the work force.

By 2020, 50% of all first graders will be either Haredi or Arab. And the share will increase. This time around, there is no massive aliyah like the one from the FSU to come and save you. France could maybe provide maybe tens of thousands in a best-case scenario over the next 10-20 years. Maybe even 100,000. But that pales in comparison to 2 million people like you saw with the FSU Jewry(and their many non-Jewish spouses). The Israeli 1% are fine. The high-tech people don't care. They are floating on their own island, isolated and separated from the rest of the Israeli middle class. But for the rest, you're seeing the young and skilled move abroad and being replaced by Arabs and Haredim. Mizrahi Jews are mostly toiling away at low-end and dead-end service jobs. Israel's still going to do better than countries like Japan or Italy, but definitely worse than countries like Canada, UK, Australia or America. And this will accelerate over the next decade or two. The last dividens of FSU Jewry is coming to a close.

When did you leave? From your description, you haven't been in Israel since the mid-80s

on such a massive scale. And you are not counting on being proven wrong once again. You "demography" scaremongering pundits have been consistently wrong on everything, every time, since 1948. At least no one can accuse you of inconsistency.