PM: Israelis Doing Better Economically Than Japanese, Many Europeans

Israelis are doing better than residents of Japan and of the European Union, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at a meeting of his Likud faction. “The data is just unbelievable,” he told MKs. “We have now passed Japan in terms of income and gross national product on an individualized basis, and we have passed the average in the European Union. We are closing in on Britain and France.”

Unemployment, at less than 4 percent, Netanyahu said, “is at an all-time low, based on the measurements that have been used over the past 40 years. Average income is at an all-time high. We have gone through some significant changes here.” Unemployment in March was 3.5 percent, the lowest ever recorded, surpassing the 3.7 percent rate that was recorded in 1974.

Netanyahu slammed the opposition for its anticipated criticism of the figures. “Our friends in the opposition will likely say that these figures are just another example of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. This is not correct,” Netanyahu said. “We also have figures about inequality in the Israeli economy, and we can see that this, too, is falling, and in a rapid and dramatic manner. Economic equality is increasing. This is the result of a multi-year economic effort that we have embarked on, which has done well for the Israeli economy, and for Israeli citizens,” Netanyahu added.