"Pushing away Arab society – missing a historic opportunity for the economy. The price will be felt long after the government is formed"

An analysis by the Shoresh Institution reveals that Arab students in Israel scored an average of 351 on the 2025 PISA tests – lower than Jordan, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, Arab families increased their education spending by 30% over the decade, and the share of Muslim women with academic degrees soared from 4.7% to 22.9%. Prof. Dan Ben-David warns that excluding Arab parties from the government is an economic missed opportunity.

A new analysis by the Shoresh Institution for Socio-Economic Research, led by Prof. Dan Ben-David, presents a dual picture of Arab society in Israel. On one hand, Arabic-speaking students scored an average of 351 on the 2025 PISA tests – lower than Jordan (386), Lebanon (360), and the Palestinian Authority (354), and only above Morocco (345). On the other hand, Arab families increased their education spending from 3.7% to 4.8% of the household budget within a decade – a growth of about 30%. The share of Muslim women aged 35-54 with academic degrees soared from 4.7% in 2004 to 22.9% in 2024, and among Christian Arab women reached 50.3%. The employment rate of Arab women stood at 49.4% in the first quarter of 2025 – an all-time high. Prof. Ben-David warns that excluding Arab parties from the government, precisely when Arab society is striving for integration, is an economic missed opportunity, not just a political one. The analysis was published eight days after the elections, in which the voter turnout in Arab localities reached about 77%.

"Pushing away Arab society – missing a historic opportunity for the economy. The price will be felt long after the government is formed"