A country surrounded by enemies, where roughly half of the children receive a third-world education – and belong to the fastest-growing segments of the population – will struggle to exist economically, socially, and security-wise when these children become half, and later the majority of the adults. The third-world economy they would be able to sustain won't support first-world health, welfare, or security systems. Without an advanced ability to defend itself in the planet's most violent region, we won't become a third-world country. We simply won't exist.
Since 2006, the average achievement level of Israeli children in all PISA exams in mathematics, science, and reading was below those of all developed nations. It's important to emphasize that this low score was achieved without ultra-Orthodox boys, who do not study the material and do not participate in the exams. Had they been tested, the national achievement level would have been even lower.
Students in Israel's secular schools score below the majority (57%) of OECD countries, while those in the religious (non-Haredi) schools score below 80% of OECD countries. The achievement level of Israel's Arabic-speaking students is below that of many third-world countries. In the most recent PISA exam, held in 2022, Arabic speakers in Israel scored below three of the six Arab countries that participated in the test.
Last year, 22% of Israel's first graders were in Haredi schools, another 22% in Arabic-speaking schools, and many others in the secular and religious streams studied in Israel's geographical and social peripheries. In other words, about half of Israeli children – belonging to the country's fastest-growing population groups – are currently receiving a third-world education. Already today, only 20% of the population pay 90% of the nation's income a (a slow, but steady, increase from 83% about two decades ago), while half of the population is so poor that they don't pay any income tax at all. We need these people. Providing them with a first-world education will not only benefit them directly, it will also greatly ease the burden on the few who currently carry it.
In the case of the Haredim, this is a group that's doubling its share of the population every 25 years – every generation. That is, their share of the population isn't just growing; it's growing at an accelerating rate. There aren't many adult Haredim today. They are only 6% of the 50-54-year-old age group. But this group's grandchildren, aged 0-4, already constitute 26% of all toddlers (and in just another 25 years, they will be half of Israel's toddlers). Tomorrow, they will be in school, and on the day after, in the workforce and the IDF – or not. What will happen then depends on what we do – or don't do – today.
There's a demographic-democratic point of no return, after which it will be impossible to pass necessary laws and regulations that are already extremely difficult to adopt today. But if we don't take advantage of the small public awareness window that opened during the most terrible year since Israel's birth, we may no longer be able to change course, and the fate of our children and grandchildren will be sealed.
Below is the Israel 2.0 Roadmap, followed by an action plan on how to bring Israel from its current trajectory to one that will be sustainable in the future. To many, this roadmap will seem unrealistic, and the action plan no less so. But if we don't begin to focus on and address Israel's root underlying problems, Israel will cease to exist. I'm counting on the Israeli ability to deal with anything, to accomplish what seems impossible before it's done (for example, intercepting the largest ballistic missile attacks in history, a nearly complete neutralization of Hezbollah's command and control within a day) when we face the greatest threats together.
Israel 2.0 Roadmap
- The key to national change of direction is a complete overhaul of Israel's education system. A significant upgrade in the core curriculum for all Israeli children, with special emphasis on the weaker parts of society. We need them, and they need the opportunities that will open up for them when they receive a first-world education. Given the dismal state of the country's entire education system, this overhaul should focus on all Israeli children rather than being directed at the Haredim – though it must include all Haredi children, without exception.
- An overhaul of budgetary priorities will incentivize compliance with the education overhaul. As Israel will need to allocate tens of billions of shekels to restore and restock the army, and tens of billions more to rebuild the country's northern and southern regions, and the lives that were shattered, there won't be surpluses for sectoral and personal purposes. This will necessitate, among other things, a complete cessation of direct and indirect funding (a) for schools that won't teach the upgraded core curriculum in its entirety, and (b) for lifestyles of non-work.
- Reforming Israel's system of government will enable the implementation of the education and budgetary overhauls. A government with few ministers, but those who actually understand what their ministries do. An executive branch with the ability to implement and enforce, alongside independent legislative and judicial branches, with checks and balances among all three branches of government.
- Drafting and passing a constitution that will firmly entrench the basic rules for the road ahead. While rapid demographic changes will allow the population in a few decades to undo the changes in the constitution and the system of government, the hope is that an upgraded education system in Israel will have done its part during these decades, and future generations will not want to turn back the clock to the reality that we currently live in.
How can the Israel 2.0 Roadmap be implemented? In the last elections, about one million people voted for the Haredi political parties and the political parties headed Itamar by Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich, and Avi Maoz. Another half million voted for the Arab-Israeli parties. Over three million voted for the remaining political parties, including Likud. Even after excluding the Bibi cult in Likud, there's still a solid majority in Israel that understands what's at stake. The basis for changing the Titanic's direction requires that this majority stop quarreling over the placement of deck chair, take the helm, and lead us to safe shores. To that end, the following work plan is no less ambitious than the Israel 2.0 Roadmap.
An action plan for implementing the Israel 2.0 Roadmap
- All opposition leaders must unite in one large across-the-board umbrella party, a kind of civilian IDF that brings together the full spectrum of Israeli society to defend the country and save its future.
- This united party should run on a single platform that is based solely on the four cornerstones of the Israel 2.0 Roadmap.
- Full implementation of the Roadmap within the party's first year in power.
- At the end of the first year, dissolve the Knesset, disband the party, and go to elections under the new system of government.
This is the only way for us to bridge between left and right, religious and secular, and lead nationwide protests on a scale the country has not yet known – mobilization of the large employers, alongside the masses, to shut down the economy – and put an end to a government leading us straight into the iceberg.
Only together can we steer Israel onto a path that is not just sustainable, but also a warning to our enemies and a light unto the nations, showing how a democracy fights for its life and succeeds.
Prof. Dan Ben-David heads the Shoresh Institution for Socioeconomic Research and is an economist at Tel Aviv University's Department of Public Policy. Additional details on Israel's direction and what can be done to change it may be found in the Shoresh Institution's website.
