THE ISRAELI WELFARE STATE SYSTEM: A Special Focus on Poverty and Inequality

This chapter by John Gal focuses on the Israeli welfare state system, offering a special focus on poverty and inequality. At first, this chapter begins with a comparative debate on some described similarities with other Mediterranean countries, trying to connect the debate on the welfare state system in Israel with neighboring regions. This chapter also offers a great (and necessary) introduction to the history of the welfare state in Israel. The main columns of the welfare state system subsequently are being thoroughly introduced. The main issue of poverty and inequality then, again, highlights the troubling and precarious situation of young Arabs in Israel, which is certainly a main character-determining feature of the Israeli welfare state. Gender inequality within, e.g., the ultra-orthodox population (the fastest growing population group) is marked by very low male labor market participation and very high female labor market participation (the opposite of, e.g., what we know from Italy). These and other developments and conditions of the Israeli welfare state system are most interesting and deserve greater international attention, in analytical social policy as well as in comparative theory making.