Israelis must integrate to survive

[MikeWB]

Israelis must integrate to survive
The increase in ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arabs is a social timebomb that threatens the Jewish state's long-term survival
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Aluf Benn
guardian.co.uk,    Tuesday 6 April 2010 11.30 BST
Article history
If you're interested in Israel's future, all you need to know is one statistic: among Israeli kids in their first year at primary school, about half are Arabs or ultra-Orthodox Jews. And their portion is expanding. Looking forward, a very different Israeli society is emerging, with its Jewish secular core shrinking. Alas, as this scenario matures the country is going to face growing difficulties in defending itself and sustaining its economy.

Israeli Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews are exempt from military service, and are under-represented in the workforce. As their relative weight in society keeps growing, Israel risks security and economic implosion, since fewer and fewer soldiers and employees will protect and provide for an expanding population of welfare recipients. The Jewish state's long-term survival depends on reversing the trend of non-participation among its Arab and ultra-Orthodox citizens.

The country's leaders are aware of the social timebomb on their hands. General Gabi Ashkenazi, the IDF chief of staff, warned that given the demographic trends, "within a decade or two, only few will be drafted". The finance minister, Yuval Steinitz, argued that tradition and fear lead Arab women and ultra-Orthodox men to stay at home or study the Torah, respectively. "We must expand employment in these populations," he said. A senior government economist puts it more bluntly: "We carry an elephant on our backs, and it's getting heavier. We have perhaps 15 years to deal with this problem, or the elephant will bury us under its weight."

Throughout its 61-year history, Israel went through several phases of social change fuelled by successive waves of Jewish immigration – Holocaust survivors, Sephardic Jews from Arab and Muslim countries, a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union, tens of thousands from Ethiopia. But the pool of new immigrants has dried, and the current change is purely domestic, stemming from the high birthrates of Muslim Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Israel's founding father, David Ben-Gurion, designed a melting-pot society that brought Jews from many diasporas and turned them into Hebrew-speaking Israelis. Ben-Gurion promoted an ideology of "statehood", putting national symbols and organs – and the IDF in particular – above tradition and religion. But he left out the non-Zionist groups: the Arabs, suspected of disloyalty and spared of conscription, and the ultra-Orthodox, who sought to preserve their peculiar way of life through educational autonomy and draft exemption.

Over time, both groups' weight and influence have grown. The ultra-Orthodox lobbied successfully for child-support incentives and for exemption from teaching "core curriculum" – math and English – in religious schools. The Arab community has demanded more equality, but unlike their ultra-Orthodox counterparts, Arab parties have never been part of the governing coalition.

But special treatment comes with a price. At the personal level, freedom from military service extends your youth, but also bars opportunity. In Israel, the military serves as the basis of networking. Our Oxford and Cambridge are the elite army and air force units. (Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his key political ally, defence minister Ehud Barak, served together in the special forces.) An Arab or ultra-Orthodox seeking a job, even with an academic degree, stays out of the club and often faces prejudice and discrimination in the workplace.

At the national level, the growing influence of previously marginal groups fuels social tension and calls for oppression, especially during quiet periods in the external Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel's third-largest political party, Israel Beitenu – led by the foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman – campaigned for imposing loyalty oaths as precondition for citizenship, aiming at Israeli Arabs. Lieberman had previously suggested transferring Arab-populated parts of Israel to a future Palestinian state.

Anti-Orthodox activists seek to curb their adversaries' birthrate through cutting child support incentives. It works: a recent Bank of Israel study found that expanding child-support incentives in the 1990s influenced a higher birthrate among Arab and ultra-Orthodox families. Subsequent cuts when Netanyahu was finance minister have reduced it. The anti-Orthodox also demand to impose the "core curriculum" in all state-funded schools, arguing that ignorance of math and English sentences you to unemployment, or to low-level jobs.

Netanyahu agrees. Speaking at a recent business conference, he called to teach math, English, and even Chinese in all Israeli schools, in order to prepare kids for the modern job market. "We should tap the great talents among the ultra-Orthodox and minorities (Arabs), who are currently not partners in our knowledge industry," he said. How? The key is education and get-a-job incentives, Netanyahu told me recently. "I already gave them sticks" – welfare cuts – "and now it's time for carrots," he said.

But Netayahu's politics interfere with his economics. The ultra-Orthodox parties are his loyal coalition partners. Their price for making him a second-time prime minister was more child-support incentives. Netanyahu rightly wants them to study the "core curriculum", but he would not risk his job by confronting them. And the Arab community would not trust a right-wing government where its nemesis, Lieberman, is a key player.

What can be done? Coercing the Arabs and ultra-Orthodox into military service and employment is not going to work. It will only increase social tension. Recognising it, Israeli politicians, economists, and public policy experts are confused. They have little to offer beyond small steps to encourage integration and workforce participation, noting the difference between Arabs – who want to work, but find it hard to land jobs – and the ultra-Orthodox, whose cultural norms prefer Torah study to employment.

There are encouraging signs, however, driven by economic necessity. Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox at draft age volunteer to technical jobs in the military, which they view as a route for future careers. They receive Glatt Kosher food and serve in men-only units. And Arabic accents are heard more often in previously "Jewish" workplaces (noted examples are drugstores and call centres). In the recent Israeli Big Brother production, an Arab contestant has made it to the finals.

But Israel can't wait until these humble beginnings develop into a wider social revolution. Saving the country from implosion demands a sea change in perceptions and elimination of inter-"tribal" hatred and prejudice. We at the mainstream must change our view of the growing minorities and treat them as the next frontier of economic opportunity and growth. If they prosper, we will all prosper. Therefore, we must change our habits too: recruit Arab and ultra-Orthodox employees; buy from minority businesses; and make personal acquaintances to overcome group stereotypes. Our leaders should transcend petty politics and focus on social integration as a key domestic goal. If we want Israel to survive and prosper, we have no other choice.

[superzebra]

these guys keep lies about the arab.i am arab plaestnian israeli citizen.
1.it is impossible for to find a job in the market.
2.i am both have a title in law and accounting and i am unemployed.they do not accept arabs to works.
the goym are less smart than jew and etc.
3.jewish cities take budget from the government,they does not give pound.they just how to take and to steel.
4.the arabs are well educated but they do not to take to job in order to make us to immigrate to us and canada and eu like a lot of my family members(and me soon) if that hostile environment continue.
5.the idf have military basis arround to arab city..any demonstration and you have died people.
6.the jews are most racist a people in this planet.i deal with every day....sometimes i want to shoot my self out of here.
come and see.you all welcome to nazareth and telaviv-jaffa
mailto:zepratakeaway@gmail.com">zepratakeaway@gmail.com

[MikeWB]

these guys keep lies about the arab.i am arab plaestnian israeli citizen.
1.it is impossible for to find a job in the market.
2.i am both have a title in law and accounting and i am unemployed.they do not accept arabs to works.
the goym are less smart than jew and etc.
3.jewish cities take budget from the government,they does not give pound.they just how to take and to steel.
4.the arabs are well educated but they do not to take to job in order to make us to immigrate to us and canada and eu like a lot of my family members(and me soon) if that hostile environment continue.
5.the idf have military basis arround to arab city..any demonstration and you have died people.
6.the jews are most racist a people in this planet.i deal with every day....sometimes i want to shoot my self out of here.
come and see.you all welcome to nazareth and telaviv-jaffa

Thank you for the post superzebra!!! Your perspective on what's going on is what we need. Thanks for posting.

[Ognir]

do you have Skype?

[superzebra]

my skype name is:    isnassim

mail: mailto:zepratakeaway@gmail.com">zepratakeaway@gmail.com