Military service preference for high-tech workers in Israel must be removed for Arab citizens, not only ultra-Orthodox Jews

Minister Bennett removing military service obstacles for ultra-Orthodox Jews

Israeli media outlets reported that the Minister of Trade and Economy, Naftali Bennett, announced during a conference of the Israeli Union of Advanced Industries that the number of ultra-Orthodox Jews working in high tech companies will soon rise dramatically. According to Bennett's statement, the Ministry is planning to challenge the high-tech industry's practice of granting preferential treatment in hiring to job candidates who have performed military service, specifically in order to facilitate the entry of ultra-Orthodox Jews into the high-tech sector. Ultra-Orthodox Jews, like the majority of Arab citizens of Israel, are exempt from performing military service.

Adalah: Same must be done for Arab-Palestinians

Following the announcement, Adalah  demanded  in a letter to Minister Bennett that he also work to break down all barriers to the participation of Arab citizens in Israel in the high-tech sector, including the preference given to candidates who have served in the Israeli military. Adalah's letter argued that, "If it is possible to remove the military service preference for ultra-Orthodox Jews, it must be possible for Palestinians as well."

Arab citizens face huge barriers to getting high-tech jobs

In the letter sent on 17 April 2013, Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher pointed out that based on statistics issued by the Knesset Research Center in July 2010, the rate of Palestinian citizens of Israel participation in the high-tech sector does not exceed 0.3%.

In addition to the military service preference, Arab applicants face additional hurdles such as racist attitudes towards Arabs,  and the fact that a majority of Palestinians live in the north and the south, a great distance from most high-tech companies, located near Tel Aviv.

Military service prerequisite for work unrelated to military skills is discrimination

Giving preference to candidates who have performed military service, even when there is no logical connection between military service and the position, constitutes discrimination on the basis of national belonging. This practice therefore violates the Equal Employment Opportunities Law - 1988, and infringes on the constitutional right to freedom of work

District Labor Court: Military service requirement constitutes indirect discrimination

In 2009, Adalah together with other partners represented Arab workers in a  case against the Israel Railway Company  for seeking to fire them because they had not served in the military. In that case, the District Labor Court ruled: "Setting military service as a work requirement for positions that are entirely civilian in nature, where military experience has no bearing on the position, is indirect discrimination, because the majority of Arab citizens in the country do not perform military service under the law." (Labor lawsuit 4962/09,Abdullah Tayeh v. the Israel Railway Company). This rationale applies as well to Arab workers in a wide range of high-tech jobs.

Photo of Tel Aviv skyline by Ron Shoshni, used under Creative Commons