Tsahal plays a major role in Israeli capitalism
The relationship between industry and the military in Israel is very different from other countries. In Israel, this relationship is so tight that sometimes, when you are visiting a company and you meet someone, you don’t know if they are working for the Israeli Ministry of Defense or industry. Comverse (ex-Efrat) is an example of a company where you meet a lot of people coming from the Israeli intelligence units, especially computing. There is complete permeability between the civilian and military spheres. It is a kind of osmosis, going both ways.
In typical Systems, such as U.S. industry, when you build a plane, you have to plan for R&D and prototypes to test it afterwards and if the army performs these tests, it will take a very long time, and large amounts of money. When you want to launch a project in Israel you develop everything together with the army if you need its assistance. For example, if Elbit is designing a new engine, they can trust the army for the testing as soon as the prototyping is finished.
The army is sharing its world-class equipment with private companies. If a private high-tech company needs equipment, they can come to the Army and work on its computers. Army and industry often work together on diverse projects. For instance, when we have an innovative idea but lack the human resources to follow through with it, we ask industry who would be the best to do it and launch common R&D. We can go to Elisra for an electrical System, tell them what we want and discuss the opportunities.
The Army creates ties
Let me give you an example. If we are working in a very specialized area of research and we know that the best engineer for developing the project left the army three or four years ago and works for a high-tech firm, we contract with the given company for a limited period of time and hire this engineer for the mission. Reciprocal cooperation is important, because we need skills that have now left for the private sector, and the high-tech companies need our assistance and equipment for their development. And what we end up with is a product that fits the market and supports the Israeli economy.
In other countries, the cooperation with government institutions, especially defense, is very restricted, and the deals are never as unquestionable and guaranteed as with the Israel Ministry of Defense. For example, the milouim is very important in our lives. It is an annual reserve duty for all Israeli males that gathers the members of a unit for 4 weeks every year. During this time, I meet my comrades with whom I was in the army and university 27 years ago. We served three or five years and then people scattered in various fields around the world, but at least three times a year we are united again. This kind of friendship that unites Israeli comrades is very unique and serves as a life-long networking resource.
This unique relationship is persistent especially in certain units (tankers, paratroopers, commando, and intelligence) and fields (computing, security). When two Israelis meet, usually the first question is, “Where did you serve in the army?” This helps create links and common references.
Not everything in this system is good
On the other hand, you can understand the difficulties faced by persons who didn’t serve, and the suspicions aroused. People tend to think that they suffer some disease or that they are too individualistic and that they didn’t want to give something to the society. When you want to hire people, you want people dedicated to the company, not people working for themselves.
Still, if you ask me if I like this System, I would answer that I’d rather have less good friends and live in a country in peace. Here it’s not really a normal life. Of course the relationship developed around the army is very important, but I’d rather not be scared for my children, and not see them go to the front during their military service. That service lasts three years . . . and this is a very long time.
-xl-
