Shaul Meridor
@meridors · Israeli opposition & former officials
Shaul Meridor is a former director of budgets at Israel's Finance Ministry.
The PISA results published yesterday tell us not only what our children know today, but also something about how much they will earn and what the Israeli economy will look like when they grow up. First of all, let us start with the basics. Our children deserve more. They deserve an education system that gives them the tools to succeed, develop and fulfill their abilities. But what is happening in classrooms today also affects their economic future and that of the State of Israel. The children taking tests today are Israel’s workers, engineers, entrepreneurs and teachers a decade and two decades from now. OECD data show how significant the skills they acquire are: among adults in Israel with the lowest numeracy skills, the median wage is about 39 shekels per hour and the labor-force participation rate is 71%. Among those with the highest skills, it is 96 shekels per hour and 92% participation. And already today, productivity per hour worked in Israel is about 24% below the OECD average. According to the Bank of Israel, the workforce’s low skills are one of the main factors behind this gap. And there is another significant part of the full picture. Boys in Haredi education do not take the PISA tests. One in every four children starting first grade this year in Israel is Haredi, and many Haredi boys study in systems where core studies are partial, and in some of them certain core subjects are not taught at all. In other words, even the difficult results published yesterday do not tell the whole story. If we do not change the trend, in 20 years there will be many more people in Israel without the tools to integrate into the advanced labor market our economy needs. To ensure a productive and strong labor market, we must urgently change direction. In our education plan, we start from the basics. We invest in early childhood, strengthen teachers and their status, and make sure that every child in Israel receives core studies and acquires the skills they need to integrate and succeed in the changing world of work. Education is one of the most important economic investments we can make. Our children deserve a better education. And they also deserve an economy that will enable them to build a better future here.
Translated from HebrewIn the end, look at whom Netanyahu chooses to reward and you’ll understand what’s important to him. Years of division, incitement, and defending him at any cost, even at the expense of the good of the country, and in the end the reward comes too. A reserved slot. The people of Israel deserve leadership that promotes people for what they do for it, not for what they do for Netanyahu.
Translated from HebrewSo it turns out they did wake him up. He just didn't wake up the security establishment. Netanyahu can continue blaming everyone, spreading conspiracy theories, and saying that they didn't update him. The facts are that the greatest failure in the state's history happened on his watch. The responsibility is his. Immediately upon the establishment of the next government, we will establish a state commission of inquiry. No cover-ups and no evading responsibility. We will get to the truth so that such a failure will not happen here again.
Translated from HebrewToday I submitted the Yashar! list to the Knesset. Excellent, experienced, and committed people who are coming to work for the entire people of Israel. Now we need you to bring them to the Knesset. There is a lot to rebuild in this country. We have the people who know how to do it. Join us.
Translated from HebrewWhy is it so expensive here? The simple answer is that over the past four years, nothing was done to lower the cost of living. And in a small economy like Israel, if you don't work on it every day, prices go up. There is no single magic solution to lowering prices. There are dozens of reforms and changes that need to be advanced, and there are powerful interests that you have to know how to stand up to. But it can be done. It can be less expensive here. And that's what we will do. We will work on it. From my conversation with Sami Peretz and Eitan Avriel on TheMarker's "האינטרסנטים" podcast.
Translated from HebrewFor months now I have been traveling all over the country, meeting with dozens and even hundreds of people a day—in home gatherings and Yashar conferences, at meetings and on tours—and I can tell you that those who are grounded can feel the movements taking place beneath the surface. There is a groundswell. Many people who have always voted Likud, who have this movement in their hearts, who were active in Likud, have said, enough is enough. Talk to people about politics. Not on social media, but in the street, in parliament, around the Shabbat table. You will hear it too. Change is on the way.
Translated from HebrewToday I heard Aryeh Deri claim that the Israel Defense Forces do not want to enlist Haredim. I don’t know what his sources are, but anyone who listens to the chief of staff and the IDF knows that this has long ceased to be a matter of need. It is a necessity. In every discussion, the army cries out that it is short tens of thousands of soldiers to defend the state. I am sure Deri has heard this from the army itself more than once. Meanwhile, the reservists and their families are collapsing. Fathers did not make it this week to accompany their children to first grade because they are grinding through another round. Entire families are paying the price. And then one of the leaders of the evasion coalition, a full partner of Likud, whom I am sure knows the data, stands there and claims without batting an eyelid that the IDF does not want to enlist Haredim. This must stop. This country belongs to all of us, and the responsibility to defend it belongs to all of us. Haredim, secular Jews, religious Jews, and Arabs. Everyone serves. We will repeal the draft-evasion law and restore the most basic principle—a state for everyone. Responsibility for everyone.
Translated from Hebrew“Where there is no vision, the people run wild,” Book of Proverbs, chapter 29, verse 18. There is an urgent need for different leadership - one that respects the public and stops inciting. Remarks I made to educators in Gesher HaZiv
Translated from HebrewYair Golan, who fought for the State of Israel for decades, took responsibility and set a personal example on the morning of October 7, reached the communities around Gaza, fought courageously and heroically saved lives. Netanyahu did not take responsibility and did not set a personal example. Sometimes the truth is simple.
Translated from HebrewOur education system is not functioning—and this is partly because there is no education system here. There are systems here. Plural. Some teach core subjects and some do not. Some encourage service and contribution to the state, and some do not. We need to establish one education system that will create a common foundation for all Israeli citizens, women and men, and reduce gaps in outlooks, in the sense of belonging, and in the ability of its graduates to integrate into society and the world of work. This does not mean erasing the ability of different streams in Israeli society to express their unique outlooks—as long as they do not undermine the concept of statehood. We’re coming soon
Translated from HebrewIf you want something to change, you cannot continue behaving the same way and expect a different result. From a conversation I had with female and male employees at the Techno-Ad factory in Sderot.
Translated from HebrewI once voted for Likud. I still believe in many of the values that Begin and Shamir represented. I have not abandoned those values. Likud abandoned them. Things I said today at Shabtarbut in Givatayim with Attila Shomplavi.
Translated from HebrewMK Zvi Sukkot, who has not served a single day in the IDF, lied, misled, and endangered IDF soldiers for a provocation for his political campaign. This is what losing one’s way looks like. And all this under the auspices of a government whose head allows him and his colleagues to do whatever they please, even when the price is harm to security, the IDF, the State of Israel, and its name in the world. IDF soldiers deserve different leadership. Not leadership that plays politics on their backs and damages Israel’s good name in the world.
Translated from HebrewThe only way Israel will remain a democratic, Western country with a high standard of living is for everyone to connect to the Israeli story through education, service, and the labor market, today at @TheMarker's State Education Conference
Translated from HebrewLook at this table. And now look again. It doesn't make sense! An average non-Haredi family in Israel pays 3.4 million shekels more in taxes than a Haredi family and receives only negligible percentages of these benefits. (A study by Prof. Udi Nisan.) It's outrageous! But that's not even what angers me most about this table. What angers me most is that the state has created a system here in which it simply doesn't pay for a Haredi man to go out to work. If you're registered at a yeshiva, don't work, and your income is low, you receive more and more benefits. And if you go out to work, earn more, and try to stand on your own feet, you'll lose them. What logic is there in that? Look at Haredi women. Almost 80% of them work. The problem is that for years they built a system here that incentivizes Haredi men not to work, in order to preserve the existing situation because of all kinds of political interests and coalition commitments, and this must stop. A normal state should help those who truly need help. But it should reward work, core studies, and service. Those who work and serve cannot continue to fund a system that gives more to those who choose not to work and not to serve. It's not fair. It's not equal. And above all, it's dangerous for the future of our economy. We will change this equation. We're coming soon to fix it.
Translated from HebrewBen Gurion Airport is collapsing. Another sign of a dysfunctional government. The public has had enough of you. We will win and begin rebuilding the destruction you left behind.
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