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The Secret behind Israel’s success

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Le Monde

THE SECRET OF ISRAEL’S HIGH-TECH SUCCESS

Technion in Haifa turns out 75% of Israel’s engineers and 70% of its start-up founders. The 100-year-old university is a source of both newfound entrepreneurial energy and the intellectual hardware for the country’s national security arsenal.
   

Technion Campus, Israel (tyomitch)Technion Campus, Israel (tyomitch)

By Laurent Zecchini
LE MONDE/Worldcrunch
HAIFA – The campus of Technion sits atop one of the hills overlooking Haifa Bay. Below lies Israel’s Silicon Valley, where Matam High Tech Park brings together Israeli start-ups and top American firms like Microsoft, Intel, Google, Yahoo and IBM. From this vantage point, one can see the source of Technion’s power, not to mention job destinations for its students.
Facts speak for themselves: 75% of Israeli engineers come out of Technion’s faculties, research centers and labs, as do 70% of start-up founders. Technion also spawned two winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, world-reknown discoveries such as rasgiline, a drug that treats Parkinson’s disease, new eco-friendly electricity production and water desalinization technology, recognized know-how in microsatellites building, and more. 
Technion alumni are the lifeblood of Israel’s society and economy, especially in fields like defense and Information Technology, but also in medicine, nanotechnology, civil and electrical engineering, management and architecture. And the list goes on: its 12,849 students can choose amongst 18 different faculties.
Medical Professor Peretz Lavie, Dean of Technion, says that “there is no other example abroad of a university with such a contribution to its country’s economy.” Professor Benjamin Soffer, a specialist in technology transfers, explains the secret to Technion’s success: “twenty years ago, generals were the heroes of Israeli society. Today, the heroes are entrepreneurs.”
Case in point: people at Technion are quick to point out that the reason 52% of Israel’s exports are concentrated in high-tech is that Israel has the highest concentration of high-tech start-ups outside of Silicon Valley. There is another, more political reason: beyond R&D, Israel’s isolation from its neighbors makes trade challenging, forcing it to seek partnerships far beyond its borders, in particular in the US.
Technion’s story began in Basel, Switzerland, in 1901, during the fifth Zionist Congress. The decision to create a Jewish university deep inside the Ottoman Empire was not a natural one, but its first stone was laid in April 1912, almost a century ago.
Military resource
On more than one level, Technion served as a resource for the Israeli army, which for decades hired specialists from here. This relationship continues to play a major part in the success of Israel’s first Science and Technology University, which is also the country’s largest applied research center. 
The army, more specifically, the obligatory national military service, aids in another way: Israeli students start university at a later age, which is a strength for Technion.  “After a three-year service (two for girls) and a year spent traveling, students are at least 23 when they enroll,” explains Physics Professor Eric Akkerman. “They are more mature and are more motivated than their European and American counterparts: they have no time to waste, they are here to work and to succeed.”
But the student-soldier path also has its challenges. Some 1,500 students were drafted in 2006, during the second Lebanon War. It’s also not unusual for people to go on reserve duties mid-studies. “Returning to civilian life can be difficult because of psychological and emotional challenges,” says Sarak Katzir who runs Technion’s team of psychologists.
The campus does well compared with Stanford or MIT, which Technion students consider their main reference points. One clear difference with its American counterparts is that Technion’s121 hectare closed-campus area is under strict surveillance. Tuition, however, is much lower than in the US ($16,000 compared to $40,000).
Salaries are fixed by the government, making “brain drain” possibly the most acute challenge for Technion. Once their thesis is completed, many students pursue post-doctorate programs in the US, where a growing number wind up staying, since salaries are two or three times higher.
More than 70% of Technion’s operating budget is covered by public funds, but the University relies on its large alumni network to find additional resources. Jewish communities around the world provide donations via “Technion Societies,” to support labs, but also to purchase equipment, support student grants or construct new buildings. Professor Lavie puts it this way: “the Jewish diaspora sees Technion as a cornerstone of Israel’s independence and security.”
Read the original article in French
Photo – tyomitch
All rights reserved ©Worldcrunch – in partnership with Le Monde

The Secret behind Israel’s success

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Le Monde

THE SECRET OF ISRAEL’S HIGH-TECH SUCCESS

Technion in Haifa turns out 75% of Israel’s engineers and 70% of its start-up founders. The 100-year-old university is a source of both newfound entrepreneurial energy and the intellectual hardware for the country’s national security arsenal.
   

Technion Campus, Israel (tyomitch)Technion Campus, Israel (tyomitch)

By Laurent Zecchini
LE MONDE/Worldcrunch
HAIFA – The campus of Technion sits atop one of the hills overlooking Haifa Bay. Below lies Israel’s Silicon Valley, where Matam High Tech Park brings together Israeli start-ups and top American firms like Microsoft, Intel, Google, Yahoo and IBM. From this vantage point, one can see the source of Technion’s power, not to mention job destinations for its students.
Facts speak for themselves: 75% of Israeli engineers come out of Technion’s faculties, research centers and labs, as do 70% of start-up founders. Technion also spawned two winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, world-reknown discoveries such as rasgiline, a drug that treats Parkinson’s disease, new eco-friendly electricity production and water desalinization technology, recognized know-how in microsatellites building, and more. 
Technion alumni are the lifeblood of Israel’s society and economy, especially in fields like defense and Information Technology, but also in medicine, nanotechnology, civil and electrical engineering, management and architecture. And the list goes on: its 12,849 students can choose amongst 18 different faculties.
Medical Professor Peretz Lavie, Dean of Technion, says that “there is no other example abroad of a university with such a contribution to its country’s economy.” Professor Benjamin Soffer, a specialist in technology transfers, explains the secret to Technion’s success: “twenty years ago, generals were the heroes of Israeli society. Today, the heroes are entrepreneurs.”
Case in point: people at Technion are quick to point out that the reason 52% of Israel’s exports are concentrated in high-tech is that Israel has the highest concentration of high-tech start-ups outside of Silicon Valley. There is another, more political reason: beyond R&D, Israel’s isolation from its neighbors makes trade challenging, forcing it to seek partnerships far beyond its borders, in particular in the US.
Technion’s story began in Basel, Switzerland, in 1901, during the fifth Zionist Congress. The decision to create a Jewish university deep inside the Ottoman Empire was not a natural one, but its first stone was laid in April 1912, almost a century ago.
Military resource
On more than one level, Technion served as a resource for the Israeli army, which for decades hired specialists from here. This relationship continues to play a major part in the success of Israel’s first Science and Technology University, which is also the country’s largest applied research center. 
The army, more specifically, the obligatory national military service, aids in another way: Israeli students start university at a later age, which is a strength for Technion.  “After a three-year service (two for girls) and a year spent traveling, students are at least 23 when they enroll,” explains Physics Professor Eric Akkerman. “They are more mature and are more motivated than their European and American counterparts: they have no time to waste, they are here to work and to succeed.”
But the student-soldier path also has its challenges. Some 1,500 students were drafted in 2006, during the second Lebanon War. It’s also not unusual for people to go on reserve duties mid-studies. “Returning to civilian life can be difficult because of psychological and emotional challenges,” says Sarak Katzir who runs Technion’s team of psychologists.
The campus does well compared with Stanford or MIT, which Technion students consider their main reference points. One clear difference with its American counterparts is that Technion’s121 hectare closed-campus area is under strict surveillance. Tuition, however, is much lower than in the US ($16,000 compared to $40,000).
Salaries are fixed by the government, making “brain drain” possibly the most acute challenge for Technion. Once their thesis is completed, many students pursue post-doctorate programs in the US, where a growing number wind up staying, since salaries are two or three times higher.
More than 70% of Technion’s operating budget is covered by public funds, but the University relies on its large alumni network to find additional resources. Jewish communities around the world provide donations via “Technion Societies,” to support labs, but also to purchase equipment, support student grants or construct new buildings. Professor Lavie puts it this way: “the Jewish diaspora sees Technion as a cornerstone of Israel’s independence and security.”
Read the original article in French
Photo – tyomitch
All rights reserved ©Worldcrunch – in partnership with Le Monde

A catalyst beyond ~ The Nitrogen bond ~ pharmaceuticals, aviation, food.

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EXCITING NEW CHEMICAL BOND MAY OPEN DOOR 

Researchers at the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry have discovered a “new kind” of chemical bond, thereby opening the door to the development of catalysts with special characteristics unknown until now. The Haifa scientists published their findings recently in the journals Nature Chemistry, Chemical and Engineering News and ChemNews Magazine.

“The field of catalysts is very broad,” said Dr. Mark Gandelman from the chemistry faculty.

“They are at the heart of the food, pharmaceutical, automotive and aviation industry. The world market for catalysts is estimated at $500 billion a year.” These substances influence our daily life in many aspects. With the help of catalysts, we prepare innovative materials with special characteristics, and we can’t manage without them. In fact, much of what serves us is done by catalysts.

They are made mostly from a core of metals, surrounded by organic material that holds it together. Between the two, there is a chemical bond, and the type of bond is very important, because it gives the metal special characteristics,” Gendelman continued.

The new bond is based on positively charged nitrogen. Until now, bonds were based on carbon and related substances.


Dr. Mark Gandelman


[Reproduced from the Jerusalem Post]

A catalyst beyond ~ The Nitrogen bond ~ pharmaceuticals, aviation, food.

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EXCITING NEW CHEMICAL BOND MAY OPEN DOOR 

Researchers at the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry have discovered a “new kind” of chemical bond, thereby opening the door to the development of catalysts with special characteristics unknown until now. The Haifa scientists published their findings recently in the journals Nature Chemistry, Chemical and Engineering News and ChemNews Magazine.

“The field of catalysts is very broad,” said Dr. Mark Gandelman from the chemistry faculty.

“They are at the heart of the food, pharmaceutical, automotive and aviation industry. The world market for catalysts is estimated at $500 billion a year.” These substances influence our daily life in many aspects. With the help of catalysts, we prepare innovative materials with special characteristics, and we can’t manage without them. In fact, much of what serves us is done by catalysts.

They are made mostly from a core of metals, surrounded by organic material that holds it together. Between the two, there is a chemical bond, and the type of bond is very important, because it gives the metal special characteristics,” Gendelman continued.

The new bond is based on positively charged nitrogen. Until now, bonds were based on carbon and related substances.


Dr. Mark Gandelman


[Reproduced from the Jerusalem Post]

Technion Nobel Laureate discusses the yidisher kop

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“As for the current generation, it is clearly a generation with different values, more oriented towards materialistic values. Many are superb, truly exceptional.… What I see among the students of the Technion is still the crème de la crème…”
.Tireless Advocate: Nobel Prize winner Aaron Ciechanover says the erosion of teachers’ status is partly to blame for problems in Israel’s education system.
By Michael J. Solender
Published August 19, 2011, issue of August 26, 2011.
When biochemist Aaron Ciechanover surveys the education landscape in his native Israel, he is invariably disappointed by the diminishing emphasis he sees being placed upon math and science curricula and by the limited access to higher learning granted to those who can’t afford it. Ciechanover shared with two colleagues the 2004 Nobel Prize in chemistry for their discovery of a process by which proteins are tagged for destruction within a cell.
Ciechanover, who is a professor in the unit of biochemistry at the Technion in Israel and former director of its Rappaport Family Institute for Research in Medical Sciences, traverses the globe, underscoring how education can be both the driving force behind economic growth and the solution to some of society’s most pressing problems.
In April, Ciechanover visited North Carolina at the invitation of the humanitarian organization the Echo Foundation as part of a program connecting global leaders with area high school students. While there, he spoke with Forward correspondent Michael J. Solender about his views on Israeli education.
Michael J. Solender: What changed for you upon winning the Nobel Prize?
Aaron Ciechanover: The discoveries that we made, for which we won the Nobel Prize, were made in 1978 to 1983. From the mid-1980s through 2004, I was, I believe, a successful scientist that was left alone to work in his laboratory, and nobody asked me about education, values, etc.… [Then] all of a sudden… I became a celebrity for something that nobody recognized before.… People ask: “What do you think of Beethoven? What do you think of the space shuttle of America? What do you think of painting? And of education?”
What led to the erosion of leadership that you have said is responsible for Israel’s lacking education system, and what will it take for a resurgence?
Well, the teachers’ status has deteriorated in Israel…. The salaries are very low. They are ranked low socially; they have to look for a second or third job to make a decent living.… [Yet] having a leading educational system is essential for our existence.
For me, it’s not only the damage made to the State of Israel, which was leading in the field of education at one time and had exceptional human resources, but also kind of a betrayal in the centuries-old Jewish tradition that valued scholarliness.
That’s very strong.
Jews have evolved scholarliness in the Diaspora as the only way to survive. This is the one thing that kept them alive for many years. Throughout history, they were forced to move from place to place, had no right to own property and they had nothing to take. They were allowed to own their head, so they perfected the art of improving it.
The yidisher kop (Jewish head)?
Exactement. The yiddisher kop. So here comes the Jewish state and erodes this value. There are several reasons for this. Some of them have to do with the fact that we feel safe: Once we have the land, the “Diaspora” values are less important. The leaders in Israel, especially those we have had in the recent two decades that grew up in Israel, appreciate education much less than the founding leadership that came from Europe. [But] the leadership is the mirror image, in many ways, of the people of Israel.…. The Israelis feel that they are walking on their own land, and are not persecuted. They have a strong army; they can beat their enemies. So the kop is needed for other things, maybe.… As for the current generation, it is clearly a generation with different values, more oriented towards materialistic values. Many are superb, truly exceptional.… What I see among the students of the Technion is still the crème de la crème.
But education is not for the crème de la crème…. We cannot afford [to educate only] the 5% of the students of the Technion or the students who are enjoying Hebrew University; we need to educate in the rest of the country. Unfortunately, in Israel we have a broad geographic and social periphery that does not enjoy, and cannot afford access to, sophisticated educational systems, and they remain far behind. These people, which are not a minority — on the contrary — must be educated, all of them.… This is our obligation to the growing part of the underprivileged in the Israeli society.
Why did you return to Israel after studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and having numerous offers in the United States to teach and to conduct your research?
The American university system is flooded with people like me. In Israel, we are a small country. I can have greater influence in the area of education, and as we mentioned… people are listening to me.
You’ve written that your parents raised you to be a citizen of the world. For today’s young people, what is required of that citizenry?
As for global citizenship, we are living in a competitive world. Our education systems need to prepare students for this new and increasingly interdisciplinary world. Students need to learn beyond chemistry, beyond physics and biology.… It is not sufficient to develop technical expertise in singular fields. We need to command one field, but also a bridge to fields that will connect us to the rest of the world, like business administration.…
We need to approach education in the way that real problems in the world get solved these days: though an interdisciplinary and team approach.
Have you ever experienced a crisis of faith stemming from your work as a scientist?
Accepting scientific proofs does not mean that one cannot have some kind of a belief.… For myself, I was born Jewish.… For me, my religiousness is Jewish culture…. Philosophically, God cannot be defined in any human terms, as whatever he is, he is beyond us, and each of us has his own God in his or her heart.
“Science is the peace that should be common and accessible to all of us…. [But] when scientists try to satisfy a totalitarian regime like that of Hitler or Stalin, it betrays its very basic principles of pursuing the truth — and it is not science anymore.”
Can science, religion and morality complement one another?
Science is the peace that should be common and accessible to all of us…. [But] when scientists try to satisfy a totalitarian regime like that of Hitler or Stalin, it betrays its very basic principles of pursuing the truth — and it is not science anymore.
Unfortunately, a large part of the world is nondemocratic, so science cannot flourish there, and it can serve an evil regime.… A killing bullet costs only 10 cents or less, where the treatment for someone like your Congresswoman Giffords will cost millions of dollars to only partially restore her to the way she was before that tragic shooting. This internal paradox within one society of developing the best in medical treatment on one hand, but have no value to human life on the other, is something I find hard to grasp.
You chose to put your career as a physician on hold to go back to school to become a research scientist.
What lessons are in your story for young people?
So the lesson is to never get stuck doing something you don’t like. Don’t follow the wishes of your mother, unless this is really a pursuit you want to make.
Michael J. Solender, a writer based in North Carolina, is the city life editor for Charlotte Viewpoint, a not-for-profit online arts, civic and culture magazine. He can be reached at michaeljsolender@gmail.com

Technion Nobel Laureate discusses the yidisher kop

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“As for the current generation, it is clearly a generation with different values, more oriented towards materialistic values. Many are superb, truly exceptional.… What I see among the students of the Technion is still the crème de la crème…”
.Tireless Advocate: Nobel Prize winner Aaron Ciechanover says the erosion of teachers’ status is partly to blame for problems in Israel’s education system.
By Michael J. Solender
Published August 19, 2011, issue of August 26, 2011.
When biochemist Aaron Ciechanover surveys the education landscape in his native Israel, he is invariably disappointed by the diminishing emphasis he sees being placed upon math and science curricula and by the limited access to higher learning granted to those who can’t afford it. Ciechanover shared with two colleagues the 2004 Nobel Prize in chemistry for their discovery of a process by which proteins are tagged for destruction within a cell.
Ciechanover, who is a professor in the unit of biochemistry at the Technion in Israel and former director of its Rappaport Family Institute for Research in Medical Sciences, traverses the globe, underscoring how education can be both the driving force behind economic growth and the solution to some of society’s most pressing problems.
In April, Ciechanover visited North Carolina at the invitation of the humanitarian organization the Echo Foundation as part of a program connecting global leaders with area high school students. While there, he spoke with Forward correspondent Michael J. Solender about his views on Israeli education.
Michael J. Solender: What changed for you upon winning the Nobel Prize?
Aaron Ciechanover: The discoveries that we made, for which we won the Nobel Prize, were made in 1978 to 1983. From the mid-1980s through 2004, I was, I believe, a successful scientist that was left alone to work in his laboratory, and nobody asked me about education, values, etc.… [Then] all of a sudden… I became a celebrity for something that nobody recognized before.… People ask: “What do you think of Beethoven? What do you think of the space shuttle of America? What do you think of painting? And of education?”
What led to the erosion of leadership that you have said is responsible for Israel’s lacking education system, and what will it take for a resurgence?
Well, the teachers’ status has deteriorated in Israel…. The salaries are very low. They are ranked low socially; they have to look for a second or third job to make a decent living.… [Yet] having a leading educational system is essential for our existence.
For me, it’s not only the damage made to the State of Israel, which was leading in the field of education at one time and had exceptional human resources, but also kind of a betrayal in the centuries-old Jewish tradition that valued scholarliness.
That’s very strong.
Jews have evolved scholarliness in the Diaspora as the only way to survive. This is the one thing that kept them alive for many years. Throughout history, they were forced to move from place to place, had no right to own property and they had nothing to take. They were allowed to own their head, so they perfected the art of improving it.
The yidisher kop (Jewish head)?
Exactement. The yiddisher kop. So here comes the Jewish state and erodes this value. There are several reasons for this. Some of them have to do with the fact that we feel safe: Once we have the land, the “Diaspora” values are less important. The leaders in Israel, especially those we have had in the recent two decades that grew up in Israel, appreciate education much less than the founding leadership that came from Europe. [But] the leadership is the mirror image, in many ways, of the people of Israel.…. The Israelis feel that they are walking on their own land, and are not persecuted. They have a strong army; they can beat their enemies. So the kop is needed for other things, maybe.… As for the current generation, it is clearly a generation with different values, more oriented towards materialistic values. Many are superb, truly exceptional.… What I see among the students of the Technion is still the crème de la crème.
But education is not for the crème de la crème…. We cannot afford [to educate only] the 5% of the students of the Technion or the students who are enjoying Hebrew University; we need to educate in the rest of the country. Unfortunately, in Israel we have a broad geographic and social periphery that does not enjoy, and cannot afford access to, sophisticated educational systems, and they remain far behind. These people, which are not a minority — on the contrary — must be educated, all of them.… This is our obligation to the growing part of the underprivileged in the Israeli society.
Why did you return to Israel after studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and having numerous offers in the United States to teach and to conduct your research?
The American university system is flooded with people like me. In Israel, we are a small country. I can have greater influence in the area of education, and as we mentioned… people are listening to me.
You’ve written that your parents raised you to be a citizen of the world. For today’s young people, what is required of that citizenry?
As for global citizenship, we are living in a competitive world. Our education systems need to prepare students for this new and increasingly interdisciplinary world. Students need to learn beyond chemistry, beyond physics and biology.… It is not sufficient to develop technical expertise in singular fields. We need to command one field, but also a bridge to fields that will connect us to the rest of the world, like business administration.…
We need to approach education in the way that real problems in the world get solved these days: though an interdisciplinary and team approach.
Have you ever experienced a crisis of faith stemming from your work as a scientist?
Accepting scientific proofs does not mean that one cannot have some kind of a belief.… For myself, I was born Jewish.… For me, my religiousness is Jewish culture…. Philosophically, God cannot be defined in any human terms, as whatever he is, he is beyond us, and each of us has his own God in his or her heart.
“Science is the peace that should be common and accessible to all of us…. [But] when scientists try to satisfy a totalitarian regime like that of Hitler or Stalin, it betrays its very basic principles of pursuing the truth — and it is not science anymore.”
Can science, religion and morality complement one another?
Science is the peace that should be common and accessible to all of us…. [But] when scientists try to satisfy a totalitarian regime like that of Hitler or Stalin, it betrays its very basic principles of pursuing the truth — and it is not science anymore.
Unfortunately, a large part of the world is nondemocratic, so science cannot flourish there, and it can serve an evil regime.… A killing bullet costs only 10 cents or less, where the treatment for someone like your Congresswoman Giffords will cost millions of dollars to only partially restore her to the way she was before that tragic shooting. This internal paradox within one society of developing the best in medical treatment on one hand, but have no value to human life on the other, is something I find hard to grasp.
You chose to put your career as a physician on hold to go back to school to become a research scientist.
What lessons are in your story for young people?
So the lesson is to never get stuck doing something you don’t like. Don’t follow the wishes of your mother, unless this is really a pursuit you want to make.
Michael J. Solender, a writer based in North Carolina, is the city life editor for Charlotte Viewpoint, a not-for-profit online arts, civic and culture magazine. He can be reached at michaeljsolender@gmail.com

Oligarchy 101 – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

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The following article from today’s Haaretz, show the role academic institutions can play as an arena for debate in deciding national direction, economics and the collective move into the future. The “blockbuster” video (in Hebrew) – not featured online at Ha’aretz can be viewed below here at TechnionLIVE.

Four years ago, then-Accountant General Yaron Zelekha was the government’s punching bag, and accused of paranoia; today, Prof. Zelekha’s theories on corruption and economic mismanagement are sweeping the protest movement.
By Sharon Shpurer

 
A video on economics has recently become an online blockbuster: a 2009 lecture by former Finance Ministry Accountant General Yaron Zelekha at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. It has been making the rounds on the social networks, and more than 58,000 people have viewed this one-hour-and-41-minute video on YouTube so far.
In the lecture, Zelekha says that “Israel is the poorest state in the West,” that its “economic policy is distorted and should be systematically overturned,” and that “Israel’s government has created an oligarchy.”
The number of people who have viewed this relatively long online video appears to reflect one of the main characteristics of the social protests: People want more than superficial slogans about economic policy. Articles in business sections about economic concentration and the cost of living, pasted up on posters at the tent camps, reinforce this trend.
“Had I known so many people would see the lecture, I would have made sure that all my lectures from that course were online,” he told Haaretz. “This is only the first, introductory lecture in the course, which is on the Israeli economy’s shift from labor to capital, and about ways of reversing this trend and making the economy just again, with fair and efficient resource distribution. Without a just distribution of resources, there’s no efficiency or growth.”
Many consider Zelekha to be Benjamin Netanyahu’s protege. The two men have known one another since the 1990s, when Zelekha was head of economic affairs in the Prime Minister’s Office. One Saturday in March 2003, Zelekha received a phone call from Netanyahu, a few hours after the latter had been appointed finance minister, in Ariel Sharon’s government.
“I gave you a six-year vacation, but the holiday is over. I want you to come work for me,” Netanyahu reportedly told Zelekha. Zelekha, then 33, had finished his doctorate and was not thrilled about returning to the public sector. Under heavy pressure from Netanyahu, though, he became accountant general in October 2003.
During his term, Zelekha received Netanyahu’s full support, even when he took on the country’s biggest businessmen, including the Ofer family and Eliezer Fishman. But then Netanyahu relinquished the portfolio and Ehud Olmert became finance minister. Zelekha had a new boss.
In 2006, Olmert became prime minister and Abraham Hirchson became finance minister. Neither supported Zelekha. In early 2007, Zelekha testified to the police’s national fraud division about Olmert’s efforts to help Australian shopping-mall magnate Frank Lowy win a tender for control of Bank Leumi. Olmert adjusted the tender’s terms to help the Lowy group, which would cost the state hundreds of millions of shekels, Zelekha alleged. The police launched an investigation, and Olmert and Hirchson maneuvered to fire the accountant general. (This would have been the first time in Israel’s history the accountant general was deposed in such circumstances .) In the end, Zelekha resigned.
Four years have gone by since he left the Finance Ministry. The Bank Leumi tender investigation was halted due to “insufficient evidence.” Meanwhile, the political map has changed: Netanyahu is prime minister, Hirchson is behind bars for offenses including taking bribes, and Olmert is embroiled in multiple other corruption affairs. Prosecutors have already decided to indict Olmert in what is turning out to be the country’s largest corruption scandal ever, the Holyland affair, pending a hearing.
Beyond corruption
Today, Zelekha is a 41-year-old professor. Unlike with many former accountant generals, the so-called tycoons made a point of offering Zelekha jobs when he left the public service. He established a consulting firm, but spends most of his time in academia. He is dean of the business management faculty at Ono Academic College, in Kiryat Ono, and a lecturer at other institutions.
“I don’t like to use the term ‘corruption,'” says Zelekha. “That minimizes the problem. Olmert and Hirchson’s cash envelopes – that’s corruption. Big businessmen can say, ‘Take care of corruption, what’s that got to do with us?’ but the economy’s main problem isn’t cash envelopes, but rather fundamentally unsound economic policy, which ought to be overhauled. This government, like its predecessors, ran an economic policy of an oligarchy. This is not anti-poverty policy, but rather pro-poverty policy. It manufactures poverty.”
Are you disappointed in Netanyahu?
“I have a lot of respect for Bibi, and the fact that I am very friendly with him on a personal level is no secret. But I have no response to your question. Aristotle once said that Plato was a good friend, but the truth was greater than them both.”
Do you think Israel is a poor country?
“Israel suffers from the highest levels of poverty in the West. Some 24.7 percent of the population lives under the poverty line. The middle class is closer to poverty here than in other places. Some 70 percent of households – the bottom seven deciles – have an average monthly income of less than NIS 15,000.”
What causes this?
“It comes from the unequal distribution of income, which makes the cake smaller for everyone. The inequality causes poverty. It’s a vicious cycle – unequal distribution makes the cake smaller, which aggravates poverty, which increases inequality, which stops the economy from growing. Who is responsible for this – the government or the oligarchy? Economic policy is the main factor creating poverty.
“The problem includes very high indirect taxes [like customs and VAT], which, coupled with low incomes, mean people have high expenses. This also makes the country uncompetitive – Israel ranks 79th in terms of economic competitiveness, which is nowhere near the West. And if that’s not enough, every few years we take a macro-economic blow due to a policy error, such as the decision to lower interest rates and create inflation two years ago.”
Why was that a mistake?
“Inflation expresses itself in one of three spheres, or in all of them: in goods and services, in the capital markets and in the real estate market. The prices of goods and services rose 4 percent, but inflation was not really felt there. Why not? Because of the high poverty level. How much can prices be raised? So most of the inflation was felt in real estate and in the capital markets, where prices went up 50 percent. That is a bubble, and bubbles collapse in the end.”
How is this connected to the oligarchy?
“The economic policy defends uncompetitiveness. It doesn’t carry out reforms. Why not? Because that’s how the oligarchy operates. That’s the connection between money and political power. Money means large employers and manufacturers that demand government protection, and this protection takes the form of stifling competition.
“The government’s job ought to be encouraging competition and pushing back monopolistic trends. The reforms would be simple to implement.
“I tried – unsuccessfully – to change how the government privatized things. I wanted to halt the use of tenders, which strengthen powerful groups and individuals. The tenders involve billions of shekels, and the privatization process means selling government companies’ stock to the public. I tried to promote [reform] in the case of Bank Leumi, but then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stifled the [legislative] effort in the face of pressure.”
Theories coming true
Since the Bank Leumi controversy, Zelekha’s detractors allege he promotes paranoid theories about oligarchies. Yet as time passes, his conspiracy theories seem less outlandish. The legal proceedings against Olmert reinforce what Zelekha has been saying, and the economic theory he propounded two years ago in that Technion lecture has impressed thousands of people protesting the high cost of living.
“There are three levels of improper management,” he explains in the lecture. “The highest one is when the state does not just take the fruit from the tree, but rather takes the entire farm. The state is rendering the public unable to influence economic policy.
“In professional literature, this is called appropriation. That is the primary damage to the economy. The reason for it is the connection between money and politics – and the media. No politician will talk about the issue, because if he opens his mouth, he won’t be elected. He won’t receive financing, and the media will attack him.
“How do I know this? I may not be a politician, but I addressed this subject. So what did Yedioth Ahronoth do to me? What did Globes do? Why is it that the newspapers with ties to money and politics attacked me? Why was Haaretz on my side, while the others were against me?”
Zelekha declares: “I’m not attacking the [newspaper owners], but rather the system.”
These remarks were made a year and a half before Nochi Dankner purchased control of Maariv and joined the list of big businessmen who control Israeli media outlets.
Zelekha continues: “I’m not a politician, and I don’t mind saying that I don’t believe I have a political future. It doesn’t matter who is elected; everyone does the same thing. Nobody will open up sectors to competition. Once again, they’re talking about privatizing [the Israel Lands Administration], and how do they want to do it? They don’t want to distribute assets among the public, but rather to give them to the controlling shareholders. Rather than distributing land to ordinary citizens, they’ve started to talk about tenders.”
Zelekha says: “You could carry out at least 40 reforms in any sector you want: cellphones, banks, media, gas stations. We know how to carry out the reforms, but governments are doing everything to block this.”
Brainwashed
“Once we agree that Israel is the poorest Western state in the world, you have to ask why, what’s so unusual here? Most of us have been brainwashed for decades by the political culture and media culture,” Zelekha continues in the lecture. “So we have several factors that seem unusual, but they’re ultimately not that meaningful.
“I am not an expert on security matters, but we are not poor because of defense spending. True, our situation isn’t the greatest. But if you look at the changes in GDP during Israel’s wars and at other times, you’ll see that during some wars, the economy grew, and in others it didn’t. In general, the level of defense spending has been declining for 50 years. So it’s not true that war is good for the economy, it’s bad for the economy, but its economic influence is relatively marginal, it’s not an explanation.
“What else do they tell us? That we are a young state. As it turns out, when Israel was established, the UN had 57 members, and now it has 200, and this means that three-quarters of the world’s countries are a bit younger than we are, including Cyprus and Singapore. So that’s apparently not the explanation.
“They tell us it’s the settlements, the ultra-Orthodox, the Arabs and women. Recently the Finance Minister [Yuval Steinitz] came to the Kiryat Ono college and said what we’ve heard from other ministers, that the main cause of poverty is the fact that the ultra-Orthodox and Arabs don’t work. There’s no bigger error. What the minister said is that there are 600,000 potential workers who are idle. Anti-social behavior. Therefore we produce less and therefore we’re poor.
“Now, let’s suppose that these 600,000 persons were sitting at the Kiryat Ono college, listening to Dr. Steinitz’s lecture, and they then said to themselves, ‘Wow, he’s right. We’re anti-social and not working, and the whole country is poor because of us. We can’t continue this way.’ And then the 600,000 knock on the minister’s door, and say, ‘Dr. Steinitz, we listened and we’re convinced, and now we’ve come to join the workforce. Where do we get involved?'”
Zelekha continues: “What, is anybody creating jobs here? Israel’s economy lacks 600,000 jobs – and that’s probably the most unusual aspect of our economy. With a workforce of 5.5 million, no Western economy created jobs for less than 60 percent. In Israeli terms, that means we should have 3.3 million jobs, but how many has the economy produced? Only 2.7 million. The economy produces fewer jobs than any other Western economy. Only 2.7 million people work here, because there are only 2.7 million jobs.
“If 600,000 Arabs, ultra-Orthodox and women were to join the workforce, meaning they were to start looking for work, unemployment wouldn’t be only single digit. It would jump to 30 percent.”
Almost two years have passed since Zelekha delivered that lecture. Now, as then, he still doesn’t see a future in politics. Asked whether he would want to enter politics and influence the Knesset from within, he replies dryly, “No, thank you.”

In another month, he will publish his second Hebrew-language book, “A New Socioeconomic Agenda for Israel” (Hakibbutz Hameuchad and Ono Academic College ). The timing assures this book more success than its predecessor, “The Black Guard” (Kinneret Zmora-Bitan), published in 2008. In that book, he accused politicians of corruption and other officials of turning a blind eye to the plundering of the public treasury.

Middle Eastern students learn that history can unite : Bikya Masr | Independent news for the world

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Middle Eastern students learn that history can unite : Bikya Masr Independent news for the world

AMMAN: Within minutes of joining a mixed group of Jordanian and Maltese high school students learning about the importance of preserving cultural heritage for future generations, I realized that while historical narratives often serve to deepen conflicts, history in a general sense also has the ability to unite people.
The students were participants in the European Union’s Euromed Heritage 4 Program, ELIACH (Educational Linkage Approach in Cultural Heritage), a fairly new project that over the past year has been working with teenagers from several Mediterranean countries to instill a universal love of historic sites – regardless of where that site happens to be situated.
The Jordanian-Maltese meet took place last month in the Hashemite Kingdom, with students learning preservation and conservation techniques from some of the Mediterranean region’s most renowned conservationists, archaeologists, historical architects and other experts.
The program is the brainchild of Professor Dr. Anna Lobovikov-Katz, a senior lecturer and researcher at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. I was sent to observe and write about the program’s objectives.
However, set against the backdrop of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict and aware of the growing power of Jordan’s anti-normalization movement, the organizers were concerned that even mentioning Israel’s involvement could have a negative impact on the program and detract from its overall goal of bringing people together to protect cultural heritage sites for future generations to enjoy.
Of course with Israelis taking the lead on this project, it did not take long for this information to reach the students. But much to everyone’s surprise, Israel’s presence did not seem to deter from the workshop’s ultimate success.
At the end of the four-day workshop, I was truly buoyed by the responses of this enthusiastic body of 15- and 16-year-olds, who quickly grasped the concept that a shared love of history can easily cut across borders to unite people, regardless of tensions on a political level.
“When the [Jordanian] participants first realized that Israelis were involved, they did not understand why they had to be here,” one of the Jordanian facilitators told me during the trip. “I explained to them that cultural heritage is not a political issue and that it is of equal importance to all people.”
“The goal is to create a sense of shared ownership among the students so that they will feel more responsible for taking care of the history and culture around them,” explained Christophe Graz, who has been assigned by the EU to monitor the project’s progress and implementation.
He admitted, however, that it had not been easy to bring all the countries together on this project because the issue of Israel’s participation for some nations was politically sensitive. Ultimately, however, all those involved realized that concerns over historical preservation must transcend borders and conflict.
“This program offers a unique opportunity to encourage international intercultural dialogue between course participants in the field of cultural heritage protection,” pointed out Lobovikov-Katz, whose partners include a distinguished team of experts from universities in Athens, Antwerp, Venice and Malta.
In conversations with the students, especially those from Jordan, I realized how quickly this concept can be turned into a reality if young people learn to appreciate history for history’s sake and are not fed it merely for the sake of strengthening their own nation’s narrative.
One of the Maltese students, 17-year-old Martina Bugelli, poignantly observed: “History does not belong to a certain country; it is a world heritage and I think that everyone should learn how past generations lived.”
Bugelli, who also visited Jordan’s most well-known heritage site, the 2,000-year-old Nabatean city of Petra, added: “It is a unique and irreplaceable landmark that belongs to all of us, to all humanity, and we must try to preserve and protect it for as long as we can.”
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* Ruth Eglash is a senior reporter at The Jerusalem Post. Last year she became the first recipient of the United Nations X-Cultural Reporting award for a story she wrote with a Jordanian journalist. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 16 August 2011, www.commongroundnews.org

Middle Eastern students learn that history can unite : Bikya Masr | Independent news for the world

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Middle Eastern students learn that history can unite : Bikya Masr Independent news for the world

AMMAN: Within minutes of joining a mixed group of Jordanian and Maltese high school students learning about the importance of preserving cultural heritage for future generations, I realized that while historical narratives often serve to deepen conflicts, history in a general sense also has the ability to unite people.
The students were participants in the European Union’s Euromed Heritage 4 Program, ELIACH (Educational Linkage Approach in Cultural Heritage), a fairly new project that over the past year has been working with teenagers from several Mediterranean countries to instill a universal love of historic sites – regardless of where that site happens to be situated.
The Jordanian-Maltese meet took place last month in the Hashemite Kingdom, with students learning preservation and conservation techniques from some of the Mediterranean region’s most renowned conservationists, archaeologists, historical architects and other experts.
The program is the brainchild of Professor Dr. Anna Lobovikov-Katz, a senior lecturer and researcher at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. I was sent to observe and write about the program’s objectives.
However, set against the backdrop of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict and aware of the growing power of Jordan’s anti-normalization movement, the organizers were concerned that even mentioning Israel’s involvement could have a negative impact on the program and detract from its overall goal of bringing people together to protect cultural heritage sites for future generations to enjoy.
Of course with Israelis taking the lead on this project, it did not take long for this information to reach the students. But much to everyone’s surprise, Israel’s presence did not seem to deter from the workshop’s ultimate success.
At the end of the four-day workshop, I was truly buoyed by the responses of this enthusiastic body of 15- and 16-year-olds, who quickly grasped the concept that a shared love of history can easily cut across borders to unite people, regardless of tensions on a political level.
“When the [Jordanian] participants first realized that Israelis were involved, they did not understand why they had to be here,” one of the Jordanian facilitators told me during the trip. “I explained to them that cultural heritage is not a political issue and that it is of equal importance to all people.”
“The goal is to create a sense of shared ownership among the students so that they will feel more responsible for taking care of the history and culture around them,” explained Christophe Graz, who has been assigned by the EU to monitor the project’s progress and implementation.
He admitted, however, that it had not been easy to bring all the countries together on this project because the issue of Israel’s participation for some nations was politically sensitive. Ultimately, however, all those involved realized that concerns over historical preservation must transcend borders and conflict.
“This program offers a unique opportunity to encourage international intercultural dialogue between course participants in the field of cultural heritage protection,” pointed out Lobovikov-Katz, whose partners include a distinguished team of experts from universities in Athens, Antwerp, Venice and Malta.
In conversations with the students, especially those from Jordan, I realized how quickly this concept can be turned into a reality if young people learn to appreciate history for history’s sake and are not fed it merely for the sake of strengthening their own nation’s narrative.
One of the Maltese students, 17-year-old Martina Bugelli, poignantly observed: “History does not belong to a certain country; it is a world heritage and I think that everyone should learn how past generations lived.”
Bugelli, who also visited Jordan’s most well-known heritage site, the 2,000-year-old Nabatean city of Petra, added: “It is a unique and irreplaceable landmark that belongs to all of us, to all humanity, and we must try to preserve and protect it for as long as we can.”
###
* Ruth Eglash is a senior reporter at The Jerusalem Post. Last year she became the first recipient of the United Nations X-Cultural Reporting award for a story she wrote with a Jordanian journalist. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).
Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 16 August 2011, www.commongroundnews.org

Technion named among leading … JPost – Environment & Technology

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Technion named among leading … JPost – Environment & Technology

[illustrative photo]
Photo by: Reuters/Catherine Benson
The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa has been ranked an impressive 15th among 500 universities around the world in computer studies, it was announced on Wednesday.
In addition, it was given 42nd place among 75 in engineering and technology.
Both rankings were accorded by the Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which has measured the performance of top universities worldwide for the last nine years.
The listings can be viewed at www.shanghairanking.com.
Harvard led the general university list, while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology topped the engineering and technology ranking. The Technion also placed 42nd on a list of universities in the fields of mathematics, life sciences and chemistry.
The Shanghai lists are based on objective criteria and much data including the number of Nobel Prize laureates among their staff and graduates, the number of scientific papers published in leading journals and other accomplishments relative to other leading universities. The Chinese experts assessed a total of 1,000 universities and chose 500 as the best among them.
Technion president Prof. Peretz Lavie said that the Technion’s high rating in computers and other fields explain Israel’s major importance in the global hi-tech industry. A new study found that Technion graduates are the “engines that pull the Israeli economy forward.”
In the last two decades, 76 percent of Technion graduates have been hired in the hi-tech industry, which is responsible for 51% of the country’s industrial exports, he said.
Of these, 25% have been directors- general and 10% in other management positions. A total of 59 out of the 129 companies traded on NASDAQ were established or are run by Technion graduates.