Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday, 25 Tammuz, at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, addressed a number of issues. Among them the shortage of qualified high-tech workers in Israel, turning to the chareidi and Arab communities to join this growing field.
In his statement Mr. Netanyahu stated, “Today the Cabinet will discuss a proposed decision to aid in the continued growth of the high-tech sector in Israel. The demand is enormous and the supply of workers is small.
“We are using various means to increase the supply of trained high-tech workers. We have turned to populations that have not been involved in high-tech until now, such as the chareidim and – of course – our Arab citizens.
“We are also trying various means to train our young people, also in mathematics, computer and science studies – this will take time. In the meantime, we are interested in assisting the absorption of a limited number of expert workers, who could help in passing the standardized exams in order to ease the absorption of workers with unique know-how. Today, the Cabinet will make it possible for their spouses to stay in Israel and work here legally. This is what is being done in the Silicon Valley in the United States, and this is giving them considerable strength and, of course, it doubles employment for the local population in the United States. We will do this here as well.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
If Chareidim would be allowed to join the high-tech sector without having to go through the shamadding procedure in the army, there’d be something to talk about. If Arabs don’t have to go through the Army, Chareidim should also not have to.
The problem lies with the fanatical secularity of the “tech sector” being unable to reasonably accomodate the traditional lifestyle of the hareidim and most Arabs.
#2;
And you write that with a straight face?
I have family ( Har Nof) and friends in the tech sector.
They’re accomodated, they’re satisfied and never once did they even broach the subject of religion, except to say that frum from all of the spectrum there are treated with respect. Any “problem” is of your making.
#3: Chareidim are accepted in the tech sector in companies run by or with a high proportion of anglos. And, of course, in high-tech companies founded and run by other chareidim.
They are still discriminated against in “pure” Israeli high-tech companies.
Netanyahu is either being hypocritical or simply clueless. The biggest impediments to Chareidi participation in the high-tech sector, or for that matter any other economic sector requiring science and quantitative skills, is the pervasive lack of secular education among young chareidi men and women and their failure to perform any type of military service where they might have gained some needed technical and leadership skills. Instead, Netanyahu’s coalition politics are forcing him to undo the very limited efforts by the prior government to require Chareidi schools to provide core skills and also to require some form of national service among Chareidim. With one hand he undercuts any likelihood of significant Chareidi employment in the tech sector and with the other hand he takes actions which make it even less likely to happen.