Mizrahim still lag behind, but trend is changing

Gila Gamliel: changing trends

Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews have still a long way to go before they are able to join Israel's elite, a research project by Yediot Aharonot has found.

 The project looked at six fields (culture, the academy, security, the economy, politics and law).  (Despite constituting over 50 percent of Jewish Israelis - ed),  Mizrahim  and Sephardim lagged behind Ashkenazim.
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 "Inequity here cries out for, and requires, targeted therapy,"social equality minister Gila
 Gamliel said in an interview with Ynet studio. "These are hard data. You can not pin the blame on one government or another. There is structural discrimination. I don't believe anyone set out to offend Mizrahim, really not," said Gamliel, (who is of Libyan parentage)."There is lack of awareness".

Solutions, she said, lie in education and investment in the periphery.

"I think that in recent years we have seen a change in trend," said the Likud minister. "It is an issue of connecting the periphery to the center in terms of infrastructure and transportation, and we must  invest in the education system. The whole issue of e-learning will also reduce a lot of gaps. Even the health care system will see changes. "

However, she concluded that "it is impossible to ignore the facts. We can not ignore the fact that there has never been a Sephardi prime minister of Israel."

She said, "this consciousness-searing ultimately creates real harm."

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