Civil Servants Push Minority Equality

“The next five-year plan.” That mantra, reflecting hope for a continuation of the robust government budgets and actions that have empowered Israel’s Arab citizens during the past decade, was uttered repeatedly during a recent conference here on the future of impactful employment among the community’s young adults.

The expectation that there will be a third five-year plan, particularly in view of the war’s financial toll, took even this incurable optimist a bit by surprise. It shouldn’t have.

If anything, my six years focusing on the government side of the social impact world have taught me that Israel’s civil servants won’t let anything slow their march toward achieving equality in our country. Fully implementing Government Resolution 550 for economic development of the country’s Arab minority, which covers 2021-26 and is budgeted for 30 billion shekels, is no exception.

Our civil servants’ tireless efforts throughout the employment food chain are definitely bearing fruit. As noted at the conference by head of the Social Equality Ministry’s Arab Minority Economy Authority, a member of our Muslim community who is responsible for the program, the 8.4 billion shekels spent thus far by government ministries are yielding very concrete results. For example: the 2026 goal of attaining a 46% employment rate for Arab women has already been reached and needs to be updated without delay.

There’s also been good news in the STEM field. In the past three years the Arab community has seen the establishment of 10 science centers (with two national physics centers on the horizon). Dozens of new high-tech programs have been created in Arab-language high schools, with students receiving a growing number of scholarships in this field. And the Labor Ministry has increased its support for the integration of Arab academics in high-tech.

These and other positive developments are reinforced by the Bank of Israel’s March analysis of the previous five-year plan, which covered 2016-2021 (budgeted for 13 billion shekels). According to its report, “gaps between Arabs and Jews narrowed in many areas covered by the plan: in school test-scores, in participation in higher education, in the provision of infrastructures, and in the areas of public transportation and women’s employment.”

Praise was lavished during the conference on a relatively new Education Ministry program advancing Hebrew as a second language, widely considered the key to quality employment. Progress in this context is absolutely critical; according to recent Ministry data, the percentage of Arab pupils lacking a sufficient grasp of the Hebrew language in 2023 stood at 36% (a 6% increase in comparison with 2018).

The conference served as a reminder that alongside the successes there are also obstacles. Hovering above them all: the startling rise in Arab community crime. Determined to overcome this threat to safety, and by extension to economic development as well, the Interior Ministry has just launched a 40-million-shekel program to beef up enforcement in 15 Arab municipalities.

There are other challenges, less dramatic but still important. These include employment integration efforts, which the Labor Ministry is currently working to revamp. Another issue concerns post-high school academic achievement, which the Council for Higher Education is now prioritizing over pre-college counseling (a popular mainstay, as illustrated by the 500 high schoolers who attended a three-day seminar this past summer).

The Bank of Israel report indicates other potential barriers ahead:

“As part of the revised Government budget for 2024 that was submitted to the Knesset (parliament), there was a comprehensive budget cut in Government Resolution 550. A notable cut in the budget sections of the five-year plan may have a negative impact on the future growth of the Israeli economy.”

The report’s comment was cautiously broached at the conference by a number of officials. Emphasizing the magnitude of existing challenges in advancing Arab integration, one of the government panelists conditioned future success on a necessary increase in mutual support among relevant players in the public-private partnership.

Whatever challenges lie ahead, my civil service colleagues deserve much credit for staying the course in advancing minority integration. They are the embodiment of what makes Israel special.

To them, and to all Israelis, I wish a much-deserved: Happy Holidays!