New science minister hopes to bring back capable Israeli emigrants

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
The new science and technology minister, mathematics Prof. Daniel Herschkowitz, said as he took over the ministry that Israel's main natural resource is the quality of its human resources and said he would do all he could to encourage capable emigrant scientists to return to live here. Emigration is equivalent to "giving the US economic aid," he said as he took over from Raleb Majadleh. The first Arab minister said that the state's investment in science is on the decline, "and even though it knows it, it is not doing anything in research and higher education." But he was optimistic that separating the Science and Technology Ministry from the former Culture, Sport and Science Ministry will increase the impact of Herschkowitz's new office.