For the first time, Israel’s national intelligence agency attended a job fair aimed at the haredi sector.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
A job fair for ultra-Orthodox soldiers about to finish their army service included recruiters for Israel’s national intelligence agency, the Mossad, Israel Hayom reported.
The “Career for Life” conference was held on Wednesday. The first of its kind, it was initiated by the Netzach Yehuda organization, which supports haredi soldiers throughout their military service and helps integrate them afterwards into civilian life. The military’s ultra-Orthodox administration and the security/social wing of the Ministry of Defense were the official organizers of the event.
Hundreds of men who are completing their terms of duty went from booth to booth of companies offering professional training of various kinds, organizations with information regarding their rights as honorably discharged soldiers, and dozens of potential employers.
Netzach Yehuda said this was the first time that representatives of the Mossad, as part of the ministry of defense, officially came to a fair exclusively targeting this specific sector.
“This is the largest and most impressive fair we have had,” said a Mossad official. “We’re happy we came.”
If one – or more – of this year’s ultra-Orthodox soldiers gains employment in the spy agency, he won’t be the first. That honor was taken already last year by a young haredi man who had done his national service there and was absorbed into the organization, said the report. However, earlier this month Mossad head Yossi Cohen told his audience at the Herzliya Conference, “Our intent is to integrate haredim in all areas of the organization’s activities.”
The government has an Employment Diversity Division, run by the Civil Service Commission. Its mandate is to ensure that all segments of the population are represented fairly in its service, including the disabled, Ethiopian-Israelis, Arab-Israelis, new immigrants and haredim. The ultra-Orthodox, for example, should make up seven percent of the total governmental workforce.
The head of the IDF’s Ultra-Orthodox Administration, Lt. Col. Talam Hazan, welcomed the many attendees, saying, “We put together this day for you so that you can continue the process that you started in your military service. Your success is the success of us all.”