TO ALL ItUcele— ilik:-.1(ev- -" CUSTOMERS:
ther exacerbating the gulf between
the haves and the have-nots.
But laissez faire economic policy-
makers and market players say that
reducing government spending and
relying more on the private sector for
economic growth is exactly what Israel
needs. Only these policies, they say,
will help Israel integrate into the glob-
al economy, attract foreign investment
and create jobs.
"It is obvious that we are moving
towards a more Western and free-mar-
ket economy, and we are getting
there," says Eli Nahum, head trader at
Nessuah Zannex Securities, a Tel Aviv
brokerage.
"Of course, the price you almost
always have to pay when an economy
grows so fast is a widening gap
between lower and higher socioeco-
nomic groups," he says, adding that
the question is whether Israel is allocat-
ing enough for social welfare purposes.
The gap is, in many ways, a product
of the dramatic changes taking place in
Israel as it shifts from a traditional
socialist economy to a modern free
market one that is driven by a dynamic
high-tech sector. Many traditional
industries, such as agriculture and tex-
tiles, have been in decline. At the same
time, technology industries have jobs
to offer but many poorer Israelis do
not have the skills to fill them.
The issue did not escape propo-
nents of Israel's high-tech industry as
they descended upon the Knesset ear-
lier this month to mark "Internet
Day" with a gala celebration of the
World Wide Web. While high-tech
companies exhibited their wares in the
Knesset foyer, the parliament's Labor
and Social Affairs Committee debated
whether the Internet revolution would
help close the gaps in Israeli society or
just make things worse.
Sheizaf Rafaeli, head of the Center
for the Study of the Information
Society at the University of Haifa, told
the committee that Israel must do
more to make sure that the benefits of
the Internet are available to everyone.
This includes reducing access costs
to give all Israelis equal opportunity to
access the Internet and providing
more Hebrew-language content. He
also urged the government to take a
more active role in promoting the
Internet as a technology that can be
used to bridge gaps.
"There is something in this tech-
nology that can give great opportuni-
ties to various sectors," said Rafaeli.
"But there is reason to believe that
--what we will see is a widening of the
gaps." ❑
-
Shul Arson
Suspect Reflects
Los Angeles/JTA
man charged with killing a
gay couple in California
says he planned the arson
attacks on three northern
California synagogues last summer
and personally torched the largest one.
Benjamin Matthew Williams told
reporters during a jailhouse interview
that as many as eight other white
supremacists joined in the June 18
arson spree in the Sacramento area.
Williams, 31, and his brother,
James Tyler Williams, 29, are being
held in a northern California jail on
first-degree murder charges in the slay-
ing of a gay couple.
Prosecutors will seek the death
penalty for the two men and stated
earlier that they will buttress their case
for capital punishment by citing the
brothers' role in the arson attacks.
As if to strengthen the case against
him, the older brother told two
Sacramento Bee reporters Jan. 6 that the
"success" of the firebombings emboldened
him to slay the gay couple two weeks later
in what he termed "homocides."
Williams said that four months
before the synagogue attacks he attend-
ed a "Preparedness Expo" in
Sacramento. To attract the attention of
other racists, he said, he carried a flier,
published by the antisemitic National
Alliance, pinned to his backpack,
which declared, "The White Race, The
Earth's‘Most Endangered Species."
The ploy worked when a man
approached him and invited Williams
to join his organization, which
Williams declined to identify.
"To get into the organization, you
had to get involved in a group activity
to do something of significance for the
movement," Williams said, adding
that this is how the plan for the syna-
gogue attacks evolved.
Williams said he personally assem
bled the gasoline and oil firebombs,
which he earlier described as "Jewish
cocktails," for all three attacks, and
then broke into Congregation B'nai
Israel where he set the library ablaze.
"I was real nervous," Williams
admitted, and exhilarated.
"I knew I was crossing the Rubicon,"
he said. "It was the cusp of my life
where I was putting faith in my beliefs."
At the same time, according to
Williams, two other teams went to
work setting fire to Congregation Beth
Shalom and the Kenesset Israel Torah
Center.
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