I believe that anybody who has to export, and who believes in skills, gets away from fighting about history.
Stef Wertheimer
Some countries were able to turn their manufacturing operations into advanced technology areas. South Korea is a great example of this, and manufacturing there is done using advanced technological methods.
The oil areas have a big problem digesting the oil. There's too much money, and the people don't know what to do with it. I'm finding all the time that we have more industries and more success stories which are not involved with oil.
I see a lot of tech companies developing technology here and selling it abroad, but I don't see new factories being built, and that worries me, because it means we are not creating the jobs that will guarantee a good life for Israelis.
The fact is that we created 10 to 20,000 jobs for Arabs and Jews and Druze, which has made the Galilee a very positive place.
Germany and South Korea were able to lower unemployment through success in export industries.
People are dangerous when they have nothing to lose.
Achievements in successful export industries, which need highly skilled people, can create an area as flourishing as South Korea and Singapore.
The Galilee is a quiet place because people have to deliver on time; they don't have time to quarrel.
Our partnership with the American Warren Buffett, from my perspective, is aimed at creating more jobs.
When people work together, they have no time for nonsense.
I need money to build parks. I will build more parks. That's all I'm interested in.
The problem with our region is that there are areas with oil and too much money, and then there are places such as south Lebanon and the Palestinian territories where there is no work, and instead of developing industry, they become dependent on oil money - this results in extremism.
If we see to it that the Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians have jobs, we will actually be securing our own future.
Tech is important, but if you look at even the successful tech start-ups, you see they employ only dozens of people at most. Tech is never going to have the impact on the job market that manufacturing has.
Israel and our vicinity is an area that traditionally has little industry. The area is known for history, it's known for religious stories, it's known a bit for agriculture, but... neither was the Jewish population thinking about export industry, nor the Arab or Palestinian population.
I made my money in Iscar. I spend my money on the industrial parks.
For us to become a nation, everyone - including Arabs, Druze, ultra-Orthodox and new immigrants - must feel that they belong. Their success is extremely important to us. If they succeed, they will come to understand the advantages of democracy and freedom.
I truly believe that fundamentalism stems from unemployment. A man without a job is desperate; he doesn't want to live anyway.
Industry is important, but everyone thinks money is important.
We have a few young people who are very successful in it, and this gives us the wrong impression that the whole country can live off high tech.
My purpose is to keep people busy and out of mischief - to create good and interesting jobs for them that help families stay together.
I built the windmill 30 years ago in Tefen, and I think it was the right thing to build at that time, and I don't think that we did much with the solar or with windmills. Not much was done. I think we were too busy.
With the areas which have no oil, the idea is to create industry and jobs.
The Berlin Wall fell because the East Germans saw the West had more. The Koreans don't like the Japanese and try to prove to them that they are worth more in the industrial arena.
The only thing I knew how to do without a lot of money was repairing tools. I actually started making and repairing tools for machines.
Instead of giving people fish, teach them how to use hooks.
