Leaving one of our local bagel shops this morning (yes, in modern Jerusalem there are no less than 2 bagel shops in several hundred meter radius from my house!) I was stopped by Al-Jazeera English news team, looking for an English speaker. I was asked to respond to the resignation of Dan Halutz as Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff.
Later in the day, I was called by the economic reporter of a local newspaper, looking for my comment to the Intel announcement that they are closing Fab8, which is located in Jerusalem.
My response to both was quite similar. I explained that too often we are only given the "headlines," but not the thought process behind the headlines, or the ramifications for the future (probably more important). Dan Halutz resigns, without directly commenting on his term as Chief of Staff, which included the disastrous battles this past Summer in Southern Lebanon. The resignation itself is not interesting -- I want to hear from Halutz what he thinks he did right or wrong (or just didn't know), and what he and we can learn from the experiences.
Same for Intel -- I cannot comment on their decision without more information. A headline claiming that Intel is "closing in Jerusalem" would not be correct -- the closure of the [known to be outdated] Fab8 is a non-story...the real question is what will be the future of Intel production in Jerusalem and their other fabs in Israel. Even more important is what will be the future of R&D work of Intel without the fabs...will Jerusalem remain a development center? We have no direct word from Intel.
I believe that Intel is a big enough player in the world (and certainly here in Israel) that like the Government of Israel they have a public duty to go beyond the headlines and tell us, the public, the real meaning behind their actions, and how these decisions will affect the near term future.
Large corporations and governments, as well as the individuals in leadership capacities in these institutions, need to feel a sense of responsibility to the wider communities they govern (either legislatively or economically).
Comments