Saturday, November 14, 2026

Monthly Issue/January 2020

Previous edition

Preschool teachers' assistant at work. Photograph: Miriam Alster/Flash90

Quality education

Assisting the assistants

Improving the working conditions of preschool teachers' assistants. Gil Bar-Tal: "We want a 36-hour work week, we want to limit the number of children to ten per staff member, and we want to emphasize that preschool assistants are education professionals and not merely caregivers"

By David Twersky 0

Visitors standing near a sign displaying the Kinneret water level on the beach promenade of the Northern Israeli city of Tiberias, right by the Kinneret lake on March 18, 2019. (Photograph: David Cohen/Flash90)

Israel’s national lake

In-depth vision

Forget about the water level: grab a microscope and take a look at the Sea of Galilee. After 50 years of research, leading Lake Kinneret researcher Moshe Gofen has news for us | In his new book, Different Kinneret, Gofen paints a broad picture of the condition of Israel’s national lake over the last quarter century

By Mor Huppert 0

Elderly people walk together down the street on a cold winter day in Jerusalem. Archive. (Photograph: Kobi Gideon / Flash90, Archived).

"Topmost priority"

Elderly and poor

Is there a solution to the high poverty rate among pensioners? "The most crucial thing this year is raising state pensions. I am fully committed to this," said Arnon Bar David, head of Israel's largest labor union, calling on government and employers to "negotiate a tripartite agreement to raise pensions."

By Jonathan Kershenbaum 0

Attempted rescue from flooded elevator(Photograph: Israeli Fire Department)

Extreme weather

Who's Responsible?

Public agencies deny responsibility to issue extreme weather hazard warnings. Even though recent extreme rainfall has claimed the lives of five people, no public authority sees itself responsible for issuing safety instructions to the public | With the advent of climate change, extreme weather events in Israel are predicted to increase in frequency and strength | Who will keep the public safe?

By Dafna Eisbruch 0

Workplace fatalities in 2019 (Credit: Idea)

Workplace fatalities

Sharp rise in casualties

Why are Israel’s builders increasingly falling to their deaths? The data is grim | While the government's aim was a 10 percent reduction, the results show a 22 percent upsurge in fatalities in 2019, the highest rate of fatalities seen in a decade | Unsurprisingly, the workers that die come from the most marginalized communities in Israel

By Nizzan Zvi Cohen and Caden Feldman-Gubbay 0

אובר. (צילום: Mark Warner, מתוך flickr)

Gig Economy

Should Uber be unleashed in Israel?

Despite international criticism, senior officials are pushing for Uber’s entry into Israel. While Uber’s ride-sharing service was banned from Israel in 2017, some in the Israeli Government are determined to do what it takes to get Uber authorized in Israel for “the good of the consumer,” - unperturbed by alarming reports of driver exploitation, investor fraud, and increased traffic

By Erez Raviv 0

Top: Israeli government meeting, Dec. 2015. Bottom: The city of Nazareth (Photographs: Alex Kolmoisky, Lior Mizrachi/Flash90)

An attitude shift

Economic coexistence

Obscure resolution 922 and the revolution it is creating in Arab communities in Israel. Executive director of the Injaz Center: "The historic importance of this decision, apart from its dramatic effect on welfare in Arab communities, is that it sets a precedent of cooperation" | Why did one of Israel's most right wing governments promote this resolution?

By Shai Nir, Omer Cohen and Jonathan Kershenbaum 0

Israel school students protest against Education Minister Rafi Peretz, unseen, after he called same-sex marriage “unnatural” at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on Jan. 15, 2020. (Photograph: Tomer Neuberg)

Education system

Will he learn his lesson?

"Homophobia Begins in the Government Halls": students' response to the Education Minister's remarks. This is not the first time that Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz has expressed homophobic views, but this time the response of the students participating in the system he governs showed their LGBT classmates that they are not alone in fighting intolerance

By Dafna Eisbruch 0