The author of this new book (Good Intentions – Arab high-tech in Israel) does not mention the significant average IQ differences between Ashkenazim (105-115), Sephardim (97), Mizrahim (92) and Arabs (85).
The sad truth is that this segregation feels natural to many Jewish Israelis (myself included, at least before I began writing the book). This de-facto segregation is not questioned, even though the industry is hungry for engineers to fill its ranks. On the contrary, it is often justified by arguing, in essence, that the hiring process is meritocratic, that they may not be “good enough”. In 2007 Arabs, according to many estimates, counted for one half a percent of Israel’s high-tech workforce. Today observers place the ratio of Arab participation in high-tech at about 2%, reflecting an influx of Arab high-tech workers into the workforce. People that had little chances of finding a job in the mid-2000s can now, albeit with difficulty, hope that an engineering degree can land them one of Israel’s coveted high-tech jobs.
The same sort of segregation goes on with blacks and high tech in America.
