State Comptroller; Former PM Bennett; Government Officials; MK Lapid; Business Leaders and Officials from Israel's Embattled North Convene for Day 2 of IDI's Eli Hurvitz Conference
The second day of the Israel Democracy Institute's annual Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society continued today, against the backdrop of tumult in Knesset as a new state comptroller was elected, intensified regional tensions, and national elections inching closer. Meanwhile inside the halls of the conference, IDI experts and conference attendees focused on those most impacted by the war and the questions that will shape the future trajectory of Israel's society and economy for decades to come: socioeconomic rehabilitation for those impacted by the war, a new economic paradigm between the State of Israel and its Haredi population, priorities to reduce the cost of living, and improving human capital in the age of AI.
Selected Quotes:
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Chair of the Together Party announced an education plan for a potential new government at the conference:
"I am proud to unveil before you the most important plan that we will implement in my government: the “From Tribes to a People” plan, to establish one state (public) education system for all the children of Israel. All Israeli children will study a broad shared foundation of Hebrew, English, mathematics, civics, Torah, and Jewish and Zionist tradition. Muslim students will be able to study the Quran instead of the Torah. But aside from that, everyone will study from the same common denominator… This will work according to a 60–40 method: 60 percent will be the shared subjects that everyone studies, and 40 percent — each community will be able to expand according to its wishes. In that 40 percent, there will be maximum freedom for the schools and local authorities. We will decentralize management powers away from the Ministry of Education. The ministry will deal with setting policy and oversight. The children of Israel will study both Einstein and Maimonides. All Israeli children and all Israeli citizens will have a shared story."
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman, shared his insights on the stakes of meeting the needs of those impacted by the war: “At this time, special care must be given to residents of the north who remain under fire at this very moment. Think about a child who for months, if not years, has been disconnected from the education system. Sure, they are given leniencies on matriculation exams, but that is not the answer for the long term developmental needs of those children. Government bodies must provide a much faster response to the developing security reality. Lessons must be learned, plans must be in place, and the population, particularly in the north, must be at the forefront of our thinking.”
Rebecca Caspi, Director General of the Israel Office and Senior Vice President for Israel and Overseas at the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) discussed the philanthropic contribution to addressing the impact of the war: “As the Israel Democracy Institute’s research has shown, the economic pressure [of the war] is real, broad, and ongoing. But we can say with great confidence that assisting small businesses through mentoring, funding, and loans, creates stability and enables recovery, and this is not something that is needed only in a crisis. It builds the community and personal resilience of the State of Israel. And the Jewish Federations of North America have always stood alongside Israel, and we will always continue to do so.”
Daphna Aviram Nitzan, Director of both the conference and IDI's Center for Governance and Economy, discussed the wartime policy implications that came out of her recently released survey, which found Israelis in the north who were not evacuated were impacted financially more than those who were:
“The conclusion from this survey is essentially that Israelis living in the north should not need to be evacuated in order to be compensated. The area is economically and commercially shut down… The fact that they were not evacuated, and therefore do not receive grants, makes no sense. The criterion for compensation needs to be changed.”
Nahid Khazem, Mayor of the northern city Shefa-Amr focused in on the lost economic potential of Arab Israeli society: “The failure to invest in realizing the economic potential of Arab society in Israel is estimated to cost the economy more than NIS 30 billion in lost output each year. We do not find an openness or willingness to invest for the sake of the residents, the region, and the state. A comprehensive plan must be built — not only a security plan, but one that also provides an economic and social response, while also addressing growth and other needs that Arab society has not experienced.”
Moshe Davidovich, Head of the Mateh Asher Regional Council and Chair of the Confrontation Line Forum spoke on behalf of the residents of his northern town: “When I spoke at the [Knesset] Finance Committee, I came to speak about our residents, who are alone. Perhaps the hardest thing in this country is the public discourse, and the recognition that people say one thing, but are really thinking about something else. They speak to us in slogans: ‘We are united together!’ We are not united together. We’re alone. Anyone who tells me he is with us is lying to himself. He’s fooling himself, not us, because we are indeed alone.”
Opposition Leader MK Yair Lapid called for a new political paradigm:
“The elections are about being able to breathe again. We are not breathing. Everything is tension, anxiety, distress, and trauma. These elections are about putting air back in our lungs; restoring normalcy—after October 7, after the failures, the corruption, and the rot. A large majority of the Israeli public understands that these elections are critical. They are the most important elections we have ever had here. They are about the lives of our children. We can promise voters that if we form the right government, their children’s lives will be better, and many more children will be alive.”
Director of IDI's Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for Shared Society Shlomit Ravitsky Tur-Paz opened a discussion on a new paradigm for the relationship between ultra-Orthodox Israelis and the state: “We have grown accustomed to thinking about the Haredi issue mainly as an economic problem: core curriculum studies that are not taught and therefore do not provide skills for the labor market; limited professional training and academic education; gaps in wages and employment rates. Policy over the past two decades has internalized a diagnosis in which autonomy that delays growth, does not enable integration, and undermines the principles of the welfare state — and even the foundations of citizenship, governance, and democracy…The approach we are proposing is a new paradigm: the ongoing reduction of closed institutional autonomy, and the strengthening of state sovereignty, equal citizenship, and shared rules of the game.”
Discussing his research proposal on the topic, IDI Researcher Gilad Cohen Kovacs expanded on this sentiment: “The economy, citizenship, and the system of government are intertwined. It is impossible to talk about growth, employment, and the welfare state without talking about [the Haredi closed institutional] autonomy — and by the same token, it is impossible to talk about opening up that autonomy without talking about the economic arrangements that sustain it.”
Dr. Aliza Bloch, former Mayor of Beit Shemesh and President of the Israel Arts and Sciences Academy presented a different perspective: “In effect, we as a state led a process that turned the Haredi public into one held captive by its own power brokers. We created this. We know how to speak with the Haredi public when it is convenient and easy for us. And when it is difficult for us, we abandon this public. We make it dependent, we do not enable it, and afterward we also have complaints, and say: let’s impose sanctions on them.”
Among the variety of perspectives presented on Israel's cost of living challenges, Eitan Yochananof, CEO and owner of the Yochananof supermarket chain said: “The cost of living is an international problem. Here, it may be the most acute problem, because we are a country where almost everything that comes in is imported. And it needs to be understood that when there is inflation in Europe, we import that inflation.”
Roi Kahlon, Director of the Government Companies Authority emphasized the bigger picture: “Consumers should not look only at the shelf, but also at the dock, the road, and the infrastructure. Traffic congestion, availability, transportation—these are the central things that cost us a great deal of money. And that is where we need to place our investment.”
Shachar Turgeman, President of the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce discussed the interplay between the financial wellbeing of business and the economic wellbeing of the state: “All of us, without exception, pay for excessive regulation in Israel - more than NIS 100 billion a year, and in the commerce and services sector, more than NIS 18 billion. Businesses are not nonprofits. A profitable business is not a problem for the state; it is a condition for the state’s growth. Because when businesses earn more, the state earns more.”
Yael Mazuz Harpaz, Vice President and Head of the Policy Division, Israel Innovation Authority: “After a decade of decline in the number of startups, more were founded this year. This is probably also connected to AI, which lowers the barriers to starting companies. In my view, it is also somewhat connected to the war and reserve duty, because people were suddenly exposed to new people, moved out of their comfort zones, and encountered new ideas."