Three newspapers discuss a recent Central Bureau of Statistics report
concerning poverty in Israel:Ma’ariv cites recent statistics to the effect that „The rich are getter richer, the poor are getting poorer and we feature prominently on the list of countries with large gaps between wealth and poverty.” The author cites a recent study which shows that two large groups with high unemployment and poverty levels – the ultra-orthodox and Israeli Arabs – especially affect the aforesaid statistics. The paper calls on the Government, Knesset and Histadrut to make a concerted and sustained effort not only to promote work but to also enforce existing labor laws and reduce the phenomenon of contract labor to an absolute minimum.
The Jerusalem Post calls on the government to implement policy that will urgently attack poverty, and states that „It is possible to fight poverty without increasing welfare transfers that discourage people from getting off the dole and into the labor market.” The editor concludes in the hope that „the CBS’s poverty figures and the upcoming National Insurance Institute’s Poverty Report will persuade economic policy-makers that the time has come to adopt a coherent, goal-oriented plan of to reduce, if not eradicate, poverty in Israel.”
Haaretz discusses the large gap in income between the rich and poor in Israel – twice the EU average – as determined in a report published this week by the Central Bureau of Statistics. The editor traces this sorry state of affairs to two poor communities that participate little in the workforce: ultra-Orthodox and Arabs, and claims that „the only solution [to this situation] is fostering a culture of work. Only a stable livelihood can lift a family out of poverty.”
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Yediot Aharonot suggests that „Like many of his predecessors, [Foreign Minister] Liberman is not making the vital distinction between public diplomacy and leading a diplomatic move. The essence of public diplomacy is to convince others how good and just we are and how bad our rivals are. While public diplomacy is not unimportant, it in itself is incapable of creating any real diplomatic move. A diplomatic move, on the other hand, is created when some influential third party becomes interested in initiating an that coordinates with our interests, or at least the price that we pay for it is less than its benefit. The essence of diplomacy is identifying those actors and creating incentives for them to act in a way that serves us.” The author adds that „It seems that this basic rule is not what has guided Israeli diplomacy in recent years. We act in the opposite manner: We hasten to issue statements that create automatic opposition and, at the same time, insult potential mediators. Acting in this manner indeed requires a redoubled public diplomacy effort afterwards.”
Yisrael Hayom believes that „The demand that Islamic Arab regimes, whose countries are flooded with Islamic extremists, recognize Israel as a Jewish state is dangerous to those regimes themselves. It must be recalled that Islam does not recognize Judaism as a religion with national rights. In the Islamic view, Judaism (like Christianity) was abrogated when Islam appeared as the updated religion.” The author avers that „There are better conditions to test the Palestinians’ desire for peace with. Out of confidence in our identity and in our right to this land, we do not need to ask for their recognition.”
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