Stef Wertheimer

“People are dangerous when they have nothing to lose.”

“Tech is important, but if you look at even the successful tech start-ups, you see they employ only dozens of people at most. Tech is never going to have the impact on the job market that manufacturing has.”

“The fact is that we created 10 to 20,000 jobs for Arabs and Jews and Druze, which has made the Galilee a very positive place.”

“I see a lot of tech companies developing technology here and selling it abroad, but I don't see new factories being built, and that worries me, because it means we are not creating the jobs that will guarantee a good life for Israelis.”

“I made my money in Iscar. I spend my money on the industrial parks.”

“The Berlin Wall fell because the East Germans saw the West had more. The Koreans don't like the Japanese and try to prove to them that they are worth more in the industrial arena.”

“The Galilee is a quiet place because people have to deliver on time; they don't have time to quarrel.”

“If we see to it that the Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians have jobs, we will actually be securing our own future.”

“We have a few young people who are very successful in it, and this gives us the wrong impression that the whole country can live off high tech.”

“Achievements in successful export industries, which need highly skilled people, can create an area as flourishing as South Korea and Singapore.”

“Instead of giving people fish, teach them how to use hooks.”

“My purpose is to keep people busy and out of mischief - to create good and interesting jobs for them that help families stay together.”

“Our partnership with the American Warren Buffett, from my perspective, is aimed at creating more jobs.”

“I need money to build parks. I will build more parks. That's all I'm interested in.”

“Industry is important, but everyone thinks money is important.”

“The only thing I knew how to do without a lot of money was repairing tools. I actually started making and repairing tools for machines.”

“I truly believe that fundamentalism stems from unemployment. A man without a job is desperate; he doesn't want to live anyway.”

“I believe that anybody who has to export, and who believes in skills, gets away from fighting about history.”

“For us to become a nation, everyone - including Arabs, Druze, ultra-Orthodox and new immigrants - must feel that they belong. Their success is extremely important to us. If they succeed, they will come to understand the advantages of democracy and freedom.”

“The problem with our region is that there are areas with oil and too much money, and then there are places such as south Lebanon and the Palestinian territories where there is no work, and instead of developing industry, they become dependent on oil money - this results in extremism.”