Hear Israel, it's time to work: Lieberman's plan and inspiration from Netanyahu

The program to increase the participation of ultra-Orthodox men and Arab women in the labor force, which Lieberman presented today, reminded us of Forgetfulness: The Year 2003, presented by Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sections for the ultra-Orthodox: much more difficult than those proposed by Lieberman in a program that has incentives.

Compare and decide for yourself

Liat Ron

15/02/2022

Tuesday, 15 February 2022, 12:51 Updated: 13:09

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"Child benefits have accustomed entire populations in the Arab and ultra-Orthodox public, mainly to the fact that what a person does, his job, is actually children. He makes children and then he will raise children whose job it is to have children, because the allowance increases as he has more children. There is an incentive here that will simply lead us to a collapse both economically and socially

. "

This sectoral and blatant "allowance speech", which stated that making children is the livelihood of the ultra-Orthodox, was not delivered by Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, known as "Pharaoh" and "Ocher Yisrael" by his Knesset members from factions such as Shas and Torah Judaism. The plan that hit them the hardest economic blow since the establishment of the state, then-Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, their partner in governments for years and a member of the opposition today.

"The reason for entering the ongoing cycle of poverty is the policy of exorbitant benefits that has taken entire generations out of the labor force," the finance minister explained in 2003 to the rationale behind the decree he imposed, adding: "A person stops working and becomes dependent on benefits from the state."

Netanyahu's move to dramatically cut child benefits for families with many children and to equalize the benefit for each child was one-sided and humane.

The allowance, which before its decision, increased as the number of children increased, became a uniform allowance for all children, regardless of their number in the family, and mainly affected the ultra-Orthodox, Arab and Bedouin societies.

By the way, it must be noted that the Netanyahu plan succeeded: the percentage of women working in the ultra-Orthodox sector skyrocketed in its wake.

Now is also the time for men, of whom only 49% work.

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Benjamin Netanyahu wins the 2009 elections. He gained a lot of credit during his time as finance minister in the Sharon government, thanks in part to what the ultra-Orthodox perceived as decrees.

At Lieberman, there are not only cuts but also cuts (Photo: Itiel Zion)

The Lieberman program also has carrots

The plan presented today by the Minister of Finance, Avigdor Lieberman, in the socio-economic cabinet, for integrating the ultra-Orthodox into the labor market, is, relative to Netanyahu's, soft and inclusive.

The program includes sticks, but also carrots.

On the one hand, Lieberman wants to deny discounts on property taxes, daycare and daycare to non-working parents and encourage core studies, and on the other hand to reduce the number of study hours in meetings from 20 to 40 a week, without reducing the allowance for students to work, even part-time. Without harming their pension.

By the way, this proposal is better than the one that Lieberman wanted to implement six months ago, so he wanted to condition the subsidy on the ultra-Orthodox dormitories on maximizing the parents' earning capacity in the current school year, but the move was blocked by the High Court.

Avigdor Lieberman presents his plan to the socio-economic cabinet.

Includes quite a few incentives for those who decide to work, even part-time (Photo: Screenshot, GPO)

OECD Warning Note

This plan becomes even more important after the meeting held earlier this week with the Secretary-General of the OECD, in which Israel received many compliments and comments on the need to include Arabs and ultra-Orthodox in the labor force

. Of missing core studies and non-recruitment, there are quite a few negative incentives for ultra-Orthodox not to go to work, and so a student who goes out to work will snatch a "fine" and lose 60% of his income.

Encourage

the ultra-Orthodox public to study core subjects and go out to work.

In which an active part.

Currently, the ultra-Orthodox have 12% of the labor force in the economy and the Arabs 20%.

According to the demographic forecast, in 40 years, ie in 2062, the labor force of the Arabs will not change, while that of the ultra-Orthodox will climb to 32% of the labor force of the State of Israel, and if it is not exhausted, the economy will collapse.

By the way, this is also the reason for the asterisks, the OECD's warning remarks to the Israeli economy, and if we already mentioned Netanyahu at the outset, he was the one who voiced them in the past, before the ultra-Orthodox politicians became the cornerstone of the famous "block."

Haredi women at work.

Credit to Finance Minister Netanyahu.

Raising the percentage of employed among ultra-Orthodox men is the task of Lieberman, but also of the ultra-Orthodox themselves (Photo: Flash 90, Abir Sultan)

Mansour Abbas Haredi?

Against the background of these alarming figures, a strong ultra-Orthodox leadership needs to emerge that will truly care about its public, its ability to earn a decent living and bear the material burden and not just the spiritual one.

For example, like the move by Arab society, which chose Mansour Abbas to fight for a better life, infrastructure, education, health and livelihood for it.

And if that does not happen - the Arabs will be the ones to close gaps with progress, while the ultra-Orthodox will lag behind and become a heavier weight on the Israeli economy.

Lieberman knows and the ultra-Orthodox know that only politics will determine what happens.

The Finance Ministry's measures must be drafted by a government bill, even before the budget is approved for 2023, and the Minister of Finance must recruit all 61 members of the coalition, including those of the Prime Minister. Will it be approved? Not sure. It is Netanyahu's statement from 19 years ago, "Parents should take care of the livelihood and well-being of their children," referring to all parents wherever they are, even those who hope that at least one of their children will be great in the Torah - very important, but really not enough.

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