The Negev and the Galilee are not a welfare project

Periods of elections, change, and renewal naturally bring with them a lively public discussion about the future of the country, and about the right ways to reduce gaps between the center and the periphery and to strengthen the Negev and the Galilee. Over the years, we have become accustomed to viewing the periphery as a region requiring increased support, grants, and allowances. However, a deep look at the Israeli economy shows that despite the good will and resources invested over the years, most growth sectors and the world of high-tech are still concentrated in the limited area of the center of the country.

This picture of the situation is also well reflected in the economic and demographic data of the local authorities, and presents a complex reality: wages in the northern border settlements are lower than the national average, the rate of children and young people in them is lower than the average, and the percentage of the elderly population is higher. This trend creates a double challenge: a heavy burden on the infrastructure of the center on the one hand, and a shortage of quality and diverse employment opportunities for the residents of the north and south on the other.

The events of recent years and the war that broke out on October 7 have clarified to all of us a sharp national insight: the Negev and the Galilee are not a "geographical margin," but the strategic, security, and social heart of the State of Israel. Moreover, the residents of the south and north were the first to absorb the fire and served, against their will, as the national bulletproof vest for all of us. Now comes our time of testing to pay them back — not as a gesture of kindness, but as an investment in human capital, in the resilience and future of the country. To lead this change, we must move to a broad economic perception. The Israeli economy is currently reaching a point where the centralized model requires rethinking: Gush Dan is congested, the bottlenecks of infrastructure and housing in the center challenge the entire economy, and an almost exclusive reliance on the center as a sole engine of growth does not utilize our full national potential. The challenge facing the economic leadership is not more point-based social support, but a gradual and necessary transition to treating the Negev and the Galilee as the leading, most profitable, and most promising economic investment channel of the State of Israel.

Today, the existing technology and academic centers in the Negev and the Galilee show impressive achievements, but often operate in a challenging reality. We have excellent research institutions in the area, from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev to the colleges and academic faculties in the Galilee and the Upper Galilee, and they contain brilliant minds, development capabilities, and tremendous motivation. However, in the absence of sufficient local venture capital and complementary infrastructure, these sparks find it difficult to connect into an independent and prosperous ecosystem. A true engine of growth does not start with academia or startups alone — its foundations are built already in early childhood and in providing equal opportunity to every child in the Negev and the Galilee, just as in any other place in the country. Creating an environment that encourages excellence, curiosity, and advanced technological education from childhood is the basis that will ensure that the generation of the future can dream and fulfill itself from exactly the same starting point.

In order for knowledge and talent to remain in the region and grow local companies, we must create a shell that will allow entrepreneurs, families, and companies to grow in the south and north, without feeling the need to move their operations to the center. The global technology industry has already proven that centralization is not a necessity of reality. In the United States, for example, the high-tech industry developed beyond Silicon Valley; states like Texas and North Carolina became magnets for innovation thanks to encouraging policies, focused venture capital, and the creation of technological parks adjacent to universities. This is a wise and calculated macroeconomic decision that we must also adopt. The transition from focusing on point-based assistance to building a strategic infrastructure based on return means creating engines of growth through practical steps, such as: creating adapted incentives and state matching for venture capital funds that will establish a permanent headquarters in the north and south and invest in local companies; tightening the direct connection between local academia and advanced industry on the ground, alongside incentives for multinational companies to establish development centers in the Negev and the Galilee, as well as continuing the development of advanced transportation and communication infrastructure that will make the Negev and the Galilee accessible and competitive.

Public bodies are also required today to change their perception. Investment in scholarships, infrastructure, and community development is an important basis, but it must be integrated into a broader move of creating strong economic anchors. At Mifal HaPayis, as the arm most deeply connected to local government and the needs on the ground, we understand that point-based support in itself is not enough. When ongoing assistance is complemented by investment in deep human, financial, and technological infrastructure — from kindergartens to research centers — the result generates change. Expanding the circle of quality employment in the periphery will increase the GDP, reduce the burdens in the center, and open new horizons for the entire Israeli economy. The time has come to deepen the connection to the Negev and the Galilee not only through standard support tools, but through the scope of the economic engines we build there. The periphery is not a "problem" that needs to be solved, but Israel's greatest economic opportunity in the coming decade, the next engine of growth for the entire economy.

Especially now, as we move from the days of mourning of Tisha B'Av and look forward to the month of Elul, the days of forgiveness and the holidays on the threshold offer us a window of opportunity for renewal and repair. Practical and grounded repair from a Jewish-social perspective, as the prophet Isaiah described well: "Learn to do good, seek justice." True repair of the world is not measured in beautiful words, but in establishing sustainable systems, in actual deeds, and in creating equal opportunity for every person. The time has come to move to fundamental and long-term investment that will ensure a just, prosperous, and solid economic and social future for all parts of the country.

Itzik Lary is the Chairman of Mifal HaPayis