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Neaman in the media
Do not be afraid: The ultra-Orthodox understand that they need to change. Article in Ha’aretz-The Marker.
The question of the integration of the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) sector into Israeli society does not disappear, and the stormy discussion of the problem requires careful examination. Events like the recent lecture by retired judge Aharon Barak to Haredi students, in which men and women were separated by a partition, or the CSC’s decision to open a Civil Service Cadets’ course for ultra-Orthodox men only — created a wave of criticism and protest especially from secularists who are afraid, perhaps unjustly, of the growing dominance of “ultra-Orthodoxy” in Israel. The article analyses the roots of these fears and illuminates the fast-paced changes occurring within the Haredi society, faster, in fact, than their demographic pace of growth.
Essam Daod: Making migrants whole
THE STATISTICS are appalling. According to the United Nations refugee agency, there are 66 million displaced persons in the world . And every year that number grows.Israel wanted to dump asylum seekers (illegal infiltrators, the government calls them) on Uganda. Uganda already has a million refugees. Migrants all over the world risk their lives to flee the country they have come from and most of them live in extreme poverty. The Israeli psychiatrist Dr. Essam Daod rescues migrants off the coast of Libya – making them whole in spirit.
All of learning is changing, all of measurement is changing, and everything that we are learning is being overturned in front of our very eyes
Sheizaf Rafaeli
Chatbots and artificial intelligence are already changing the world of learning, education and teaching, says Prof. Sheizaf Rafaeli, a senior research associate at the Samuel Neaman Institute at the Technion, and head of the Internet Research Center at Haifa University. “Today the rules are being created by machine learning, and this is without human intervention. Those who wish to be frightened can write apocalyptic SciFi literature, and those who wish to be Luddites may do so.”
Galatz interview: Facebook announced a new feature
Sheizaf Rafaeli
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced yesterday a new possibility on the world’s largest social network – erasing our browsing history. Mark Zuckerberg says many websites need information such as cookies, cookies and browsing history to operate, but you should have the option to delete your browsing history at any time! We’re working on a similar version on Facebook. This is a simple setting to delete your browsing history, what you clicked, the sites you visited, and so on. Call it simply cleaning history. But of course do not rush now to try to erase your Facebook history because this tool will be launched in just a few months.
Because of Russian involvement in the US presidential election in 2016, where she bought political ads on Facebook, among others. Facebook will now give us, users, tools for transparency in publishing political messages. We’ll know who posted the ad, how much money was invested in the campaign, and which ads are shown to other people on the social network.
Listen to the interview here
Bug 8200: Will the move of the intelligence center save Beersheba?
The demands presented this week by the Defense Ministry as a condition for transferring the IDF’s intelligence units to the Negev have raised again the question of the utility of relocating military camps to the south.
A new study by researchers from the Samuel Neaman Institute at the Technion, in cooperation with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, published in recent months, found that there is a disturbing gap between optimistic forecasts and reality. While the state estimated a potential of about 6,000-7,000 career soldiers, from which only 2,500 to 3,600 would actually move to the Negev, the projection of the research team stands on a few hundred permanent service men and women only.
Is it possible to slow the birthrate within 30 years – and how do artificial islands and underground life fit into the picture? Israel’s population is expected to double by 2048
How many Israelis would choose to live in a country where overcrowding permeates all areas of life, open spaces are in short supply, and large parts of the population live in towers that suffer from maintenance problems and take hours to get to work? How many Israelis are prepared to live in a country where infrastructure is on the verge of collapse and the construction of schools lagging behind the number of children? There is such a place in the world, or rather such a place is emerging. This is the State of Israel, 2048.
The way to deal with this issue is, on the one hand, to reduce fertility and on the other hand, to increase the area, which is already limited, by building artificial islands and exploiting the subsoil.
Why is the electric car revolution in Israel is on hold?
Ofira Ayalon, Idan Liebes
Car manufacturers worldwide are preparing to produce millions of electric cars a year, but in Israel the government has not adapted the market to change and thus contributes to the continued air pollution.
The Ministry of Energy: The Ministry has worked to formulate standards for charging an electric vehicle, and the Electricity Authority is currently completing regulation
According to data compiled by Ofira Ayalon and Idan Liebes of the Samuel Neaman Institute, the cost of driving an electric vehicle is about sixth of that of a gasoline or diesel-powered vehicle. At the head of the recommendations formulated at the end of the discussion at the Technion’s Energy Forum, it was proposed to formulate a national plan for the assimilation of public and private electric transportation in Israel. Public transportation, especially urban, should be electric, clean and efficient. Integration with interurban transportation e.g. electric trains can even obviate the need for two vehicles per family. According to the recommendations, the plan should include quantitative targets, indicators of success and appropriate budgeting.
The regulator needs an Electroconvulsive therapy
In the five years that have passed since the collapse of Better Place, the automotive world has shown renewed interest in electric vehicles over gasoline/ diesel cars. Many countries invest in public charging stations, tax benefits, purchase assistance and even monthly basis grants, directly to the driver’s salary. And in Israel there is a significant lack of public charging infrastructure and low awareness of electric vehicles. The environment and energy team of the Samuel Neaman Institute passed on updated data to the Knesset Information Center.
The test result shows: The plastic bag law completely failed
Ministry of Environmental Protection is satisfied with the carrier-bag law, which came into force last year and prohibits the free distribution of plastic bags in retail chains. The numbers show a sharp decline in the use of bags in retail chains. In addition, the “Clean Coast Index” also improved, according to the Ministry’s 2017 report, which was the cleanest year for beaches in the last 12 years, and the carrier- bag law has a significant impact on the index.
However, the number of bags consumed by the public can not be a measure. This is because the purpose of the law is not to reduce the number of bags consumed, but to reduce the damage that the legislators believe us caused by these bags.
The work done at the Samuel Neaman Institute shows that carrier bags are not such a significant environmental nuisance, and that there are other policy means (instead of such a high tax) that can be used to reduce the use of bags.
The rural sector in Israel is underprivileged
A new study by Prof. Rachelle Alterman of the Technion proves that the rural agricultural sector in Israel is discriminated against in land-related issues, as no rural sector in any developed country. Kibbutzim and moshavim suffer from deliberate governmental discrimination that stems from prejudice and a distorted image. The language and images used when referring to kibbutz or moshav members use is reminiscent of the language in which the anti-Semites attack the Jews. They are described as being the rich people of the country who squeeze the public coffers and steal privileges at the expense of others – while the reality is the opposite.
The rural sector in Israel, composed mainly of communal kibbutzim and cooperative moshavim, is trampled by a land policy promoted by government authorities which was suitable for the initial years of the State of Israel but which has been frozen since then, and even regressed, so as to weak these exemplary communities socially and economically. The study has found that the “basket of property rights” for land and housing of farming communities in Israel is 50 to 80 percent lesser than the “basket of rights” of farmers in several OECD countries, including Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Hungary.