Monday, November 08, 2021
Elder of Ziyon
This weekend, Israel reportedly approved permits for 500 high tech workers from the territories to work in Israel over the next three years.
These completely contradict the anti-Israel narrative of the haters.
In the second quarter of 2021, Israel employed 146,000 Palestinian workers, 19,000 in settlements. That's over 14% of the Palestinian workforce. These workers receive double the pay they get on average under Palestinian rule. That means that some 24% of the Palestinian tax base comes from workers who work in Israel. (h/t Irene for correcting my math.)
In short, working for Israelis is the best thing the Palestinian economy has going for itself, especially after the significant drop in aid from the world.
Palestinians know this. Last month, tens of thousands of Gazans applied for the several thousand permits Israel was releasing.
Egypt doesn't employ Palestinians. Jordan doesn't employ Palestinians who live in the West Bank. There is nothing stopping those countries' borders from being opened to allow Palestinians to have jobs and dignity - but the only country that actually provides that is Israel.
Yet the only thing one ever hears about Palestinian jobs in Israel is that it isn't enough. Which is very funny, since BDS demands that Palestinians don't accept Israeli jobs altogether (and the Palestinian Authority tried to stop them as well once, without making any dent in the numbers of Palestinians working in Israel.)
Another thing that gets very little coverage: when the Bennett government allowed Palestinians to use 4G networking, which will roll out over the next few months, it gives many Palestinian tech workers the opportunity to work remotely around the world.
How can one jive the facts that Israel is doing so much to help ordinary Palestinians and the lies that get spread by the media and NGOs?
Simple. Just don't give much coverage to the truth.
