We must boost the resilient Israeli industry in border regions - opinion

Factories and manufacturers on the periphery are the state’s economic “flak jacket,” a key pillar of Israel’s economy. 

Despite the security and geo-political challenges we have been exposed to during the Gaza war, industry workers in Israel’s border areas – in the South and the North – continue to demonstrate wonderful and inspirational resilience.

Even when the cannons roar, the workers of Nirlat in Nir Oz, Elta Systems in Ashdod, and Netafim in Kibbutz Yiftah keep on working.

While the physical restoration work of the bombarded and burnt areas is still ongoing, Israeli society proudly regards the brave farmers who did not abandon them and heroically continued to work their fields. 

Likewise, Israeli industry workers in border regions have been demonstrating supreme heroism and proving that, in spite of the war, the Israeli spirit of resurrection is alive and well.

Many factories and businesses face complex challenges, including damaged infrastructure, emerging economic difficulties, and burgeoning debts, as well as shortage of skilled workforce and the post-trauma experienced by factory workers and residents of the South and the North in general. 

Some of the workers have been displaced from their homes and constitute exiles in their own country, yet, despite these challenges, they continue to manufacture with phenomenal resilience and robustness, maintaining high standards of quality and efficiency. 

This is the industry at its best – reflecting the strong, resilient Israeli spirit.

How to restore Gaza border communities

Sources of livelihood and a strong local industry are significant anchors for restoring the Gaza border communities and reinforcing the cities on the periphery – Ofakim and Sderot, as well as Safed and Nahariya. 

They are the key to a strong economy – and only a nation with a stable economy can also afford a powerful army to defend its borders, alongside exceptional education and health and welfare services for its communities.

The Israeli spirit may be triumphant, but it is not enough. After years of neglect and disregard, when generations of Israeli governments have preferred investing in the development of the hi-tech and cybersecurity sectors over industry – and promoting reforms that prioritized imports over local manufacturing – the events of October 7 have proven just how important it is to reinforce Israeli industry. 

We must prioritize the economy of the Israel border regions, the economy’s engine of growth.

The government should take significant steps to leverage industry, with an emphasis on the peripheral regions. 

These steps should be the product of a vision of turning Israeli industry into a global leader. 

A national plan is required for increasing grants and providing substantial benefits; facilitating licensing processes; investing in infrastructures and workforce; vocational training; nurturing a new generation of engineers in crucial vocations – particularly mechanical, chemical, civil and electronics engineers – and encouraging the establishment of research and development centers on the periphery.

Such investment will not only reinforce local industry, it will contribute to the economic resilience of the country at large. 

Employees and employers in the South and North are a shining example for Israeli industry and society, and supporting them is a duty of the highest magnitude. 

Ultimately, the success of industry on the periphery is our success as a nation and as a society. 

We must act together, out of a broad perspective and a sense of national responsibility, to guarantee the economic and national resilience of the State of Israel. The government now holds the key to this, and it must not repeat the mistakes of the past. 

Now more than ever, Israeli industry in the North and South regions requires practical support to provide hope for the future.

The writer is rector and founder of SCE, the Sami Shamoon College of Engineering.