(haipo) – In a podcast interview I conducted with Hanan Markowitz, CEO of the Haifa Economic Company, he described the economic challenge facing the city of Haifa in particular and the peripheral communities in general. Led by Mayor Yona Yahav, the Haifa Economic Company is working to establish the city as another significant economic and technological hub in Israel.
Podcast with Hanan Markowitz on the future of the North – Watch
Markowitz sharply criticized the concentration of human capital, power centers, and government investments in the center of the country, and warned of the economic and security implications of this policy. Alongside the criticism, he presented a plan to promote employment in Haifa, which includes attracting defense industries, establishing a medical complex, expanding the Matam Park, and developing a new tourism project. Markowitz pledged a commitment to working hard to change the distortion that has been created for decades between the center and the periphery, and called on the government to change the national priorities and strengthen Haifa and Beersheba.
Hanan Markowitz: A change in national priorities is required
In an interview, Markowitz presented the government's focus on the center of the country as an "economic, security and Zionist catastrophe." According to him, the economic future of the Haifa metropolis depends on a fundamental change in the national priorities. He explained that Israel's most important resource is human capital, but state policy causes it to be concentrated in the Tel Aviv area. This concentration also attracts financial capital and steadily widens the gaps. This creates a cycle in which talented workers, companies and investors cluster in the same area, while Haifa, the north, the south and other settlements in the periphery have difficulty competing for quality employment, entrepreneurship and opportunities for growth.
The Kirya and the IDF attract the minds to the center
According to Markowitz, one of the "weapons of equality" in the Tel Aviv region is the Kirya, which serves as a magnet for human capital. The IDF concentrates talented young people in the central region and improves their abilities throughout their military service. After discharge, many of them remain in the area where they gain experience, make connections and meet professional partners.
Markowitz also linked the process to historical circumstances: The declaration of the state was held in Tel Aviv, and the headquarters continued to operate in the heart of the city. According to him, this situation did not remain only within the military framework, but over the years has affected the employment, entrepreneurship, technology and innovation map of Israel as a whole.
An entire economic system develops around human capital.
Markowitz described an economic chain that begins with the meeting of talented people during their military service and continues in their civilian lives. “Companies are formed around minds,” he said, explaining that high-tech companies are formed around the brilliant people who met at the center and chose to stay there. Following the minds come venture capital funds, which are attracted to the centers of knowledge and entrepreneurship, and suppliers and service providers are also established around the investments.
The center's business system is expanding and feeding itself, while Haifa and the north remain outside a significant part of the process, even though they have the potential to serve as an alternative center for knowledge-intensive industries, security developments, and advanced technological activity.
The state is removing centers of power and employment from the north.
Another criticism of Markowitz was directed at the concentration of government companies and institutions in the area between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. He mentioned that the management of Israel Railways and Mekorot were transferred from the north, and that among the prominent remnants of government companies in the area are ZIM and the Electric Company. He claims that the state does not use the companies under its control to spread employment and centers of influence, thereby "drying up the north and the south."
Markowitz emphasized that government offices are not just workplaces, but also centers of power that attract workers, services, and economic activity. Therefore, their location has a direct and broad impact on the development of the cities around them.
Centralization also creates a security risk
According to Markowitz, the concentration of economic power in one area is especially dangerous for a country that is under existential threat. If Tel Aviv is paralyzed, he said, the State of Israel could also be paralyzed, and a few missiles on the city could disable key centers of activity. He defined continued centralization as “absolute madness” and called for seeing the dispersion of power centers as a security necessity, and not just a social or economic move.
Strengthening additional centers across the country should, in his view, reduce dependence on a single region, strengthen the state's ability to deal with threats, and enable the continuity of public and economic activity even if the Tel Aviv metropolitan area is damaged.
The solution: Strengthening Haifa and Beer Sheva
The solution proposed by Markowitz is based on strengthening Haifa and Beersheba and positioning Haifa as a national defense-tech center. To this end, he said, tax benefits should be granted to companies that choose to operate in both cities. Without such benefits, he warned, companies will not move to Haifa. Along with the incentives, the government is required to move centers that employ and improve human capital to the city, including government companies and units of the IDF, the Shin Bet, and the Mossad.
A combination of public institutions, the defense industry, and technology companies could create a professional system in the city that will attract workers, encourage the establishment of new companies, and enable young people in Haifa and the north to find quality employment near their homes.
Huge investments continue to flow into the center of the country
Markowitz claimed that the declared support for the periphery is inconsistent with the actual investment policy. According to him, about 200 billion shekels are currently being invested in the center of the country, including in the subway and light rail. In the face of these investments, cities like Nahariya, Karmiel, Katzrin, Afula and Tiberias are left with no real chance of competing.
He noted that moving a government office to one of the cities could bring civil servants there and create a new economic activity environment. He claims that decision-makers in Jerusalem and the center do not truly recognize the distance and the reality in the periphery, because almost all state systems continue to be run from the center alone.
Correcting the distortion requires tens of billions of shekels.
A one-time investment of a billion shekels will not change reality, Markowitz stated, because this is a distortion that has accumulated over decades. According to him, correcting it requires an investment of tens of billions of shekels and an actual transfer of institutions, jobs, and resources to the periphery. Symbolic programs or declarations of support are not enough; to change the balance of power, large, high-quality, and stable employment centers must be created in the north and south.
Markowitz promised a commitment to hard work to promote change and narrow the gap that has emerged between the center and the periphery, with the understanding that this is a long process that requires consistent government policy and not temporary solutions.
Creating jobs and retaining Haifa's youth
The Haifa Economic Society's work plan focuses on creating jobs and retaining young people in the city. Markowitz noted that the company has worked to bring Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael to Haifa, and that Rafael has already entered the Science Park. These moves are part of the goal of making Haifa a significant center for defense and technology industries. Rather than seeing the city as a destination for grants alone, the plan seeks to establish long-term productive and professional activity there. The presence of large companies could provide direct employment, encourage engagements with local suppliers, and create an environment in which young graduates can build careers and continue to live in Haifa.
A new medical complex will be built in the check post area.
A major project promoted by the economic company is the establishment of a medical complex on Sapir Street in the Check Post area. In the first phase, the complex is expected to cover 45 square meters, with an investment of over a billion shekels. According to the data presented by Markowitz, the project is expected to create between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs. The tender is planned to be launched within a few months, and occupancy is expected in 2031. The complex was presented as part of the solutions intended to improve Haifa's economic situation and encourage growth, by establishing a large employment anchor in the medical field and developing additional professional and business activity in its vicinity.
Matam Park will be expanded by 43 meters
Alongside the establishment of the medical complex, the economic company is promoting the expansion of the Matam Park and the construction of Matam East 3. The project is expected to add 43 square meters to the park and strengthen one of the city's main employment centers. The expansion of the park is part of the goal of increasing the supply of jobs in Haifa, attracting additional companies, and providing the city's young people with professional options that will allow them to stay there. The move joins the bringing of Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael and Markowitz's vision to establish a broad technological and security system in Haifa, which will attract human capital and investments and cope with the pull of the central region.
New tourism project to be unveiled at lecture in Haifa
More comprehensive details about the economic society's plans will be presented at a lecture to be held on September 7, 2026, at the Zairim Center in Haifa. During the lecture, Markowitz is also expected to unveil a new tourism project, about which no further details were provided in the interview. The public is invited to attend the lecture free of charge, but must register in advance using the link provided in the article. Markowitz presented the planned activity as a look into the future and as part of the economic society's efforts to change Haifa's situation. He said that the work will continue in the hope that the next government will listen and help change the national priorities.
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The lack of employment also drives residents, especially young people, away from moving to the center of the country. For example, young people who studied electrical engineering or chemistry and have no job opportunities in Haifa will look for work in the center of the country, which creates over-concentration in the Tel Aviv area.
In Ashdod, which is similar to Haifa in terms of peripherality, a similar medical center was established, subsidized by the state, to the tune of 1 billion shekels.
If the Haifa Municipality wants to establish such a public center, also in Haifa, it will have to finance the subsidy. Does the city have such an amount?
Alternatively, a private, commercial center could be established, and that would not help the city's residents. Certainly the Haifa Municipality, as a public body, should not encourage such a thing.
I would like to remind you that the municipality is under a wave of lawsuits regarding its failures in planning new residential neighborhoods on the Carmel. If accepted, these lawsuits will result in the cancellation of the elected government in Haifa and its transfer to a committee.
It's nice to blame the whole world for all the municipality's failures in the last eighty years. There's no need for an investigation committee before the elections, there's someone to blame. But what? This is another stage in the municipality's stupidity, patience, and shortsightedness. There's no idea, no plan, no vision. They don't know what they want to happen, what the city will look like in 10 or 20 years. They want things to happen by themselves. Speaking of B.S., there's a lot to learn from Danilovitz. If you can't learn, at least copy from him.
I don't know Markowitz beyond the interview presented here, but what a closeness.
Every year, thousands of brilliant young people come to Haifa: in the fields of engineering to the Technion and in the humanities to the university. What does a municipality do that wants to retain these young people? How does it meet their needs?
We need to invest in public transportation (which is lacking in neighborhoods near institutions), parks (which are lacking throughout the city), and most of all – employment.
Google, Microsoft, and Intel are already located in Haifa, but instead of connecting them to the city, they are being pushed to the margins and concentrated solely at the MATAM (which is about to become a huge interchange) that is not properly accessible by transportation to these populations.
Hello Haifa Municipality, our future is in our hands. It's true that they won't move the campus to Haifa tomorrow morning, but we need to wake up and play on the (huge) advantages we have. As Hanan says: The main thing is human capital and we already have that. But what is the municipality doing to keep it here?
A mayor who has been in office for 4 terms and only whines about the gap compared to investment in the center, and it seems that he has also caught the economic community in this mantra as a convenient excuse. The bitter and difficult truth is that the economic community did not deal with what Haifa really needs economically, such as an international airport. Such as evacuating bases and parking lots and promoting hotels on the coastline. Such as building a large marina that will generate sports and marine tourism activities within it. Such as establishing a hall like Pavilion 2 in the Exhibition Gardens that will allow Haifa to host large exhibitions and large performances at the Congress Center. Such as developing film and media studios that have been talked about for 4 terms and nothing has happened. Such as developing an attractions and amusement park that was supposed to be built like Disneyland and other promises of an adventure park in Wadi Giborim, in the end there is nothing. There is no amusement park or attraction in the Haifa area. The economic society needs to promote the establishment of new museums because for decades they haven't invested in cultural buildings in Haifa, so why hasn't the Mena Katz Museum been closed for years and not built a magnificent museum and cultural center in its place? Swimming pools In fact, when they bought the Sportan, they didn't expand the pool supply in Haifa, but simply turned one from a private business into a municipal business. This is not good news. There is no good news. The economic society did not create mega projects that brought about economic change in Haifa. And the municipality also "helped" by not pressuring the government to promote such projects for the Haifa and northern regions. For example, the city of military bases and the city of intelligence in Beersheba compared to not moving the base to the Bat Galim military base and building an alternative base in Haifa so that the area can be developed for hotels and a marina. This is how the gaps are created.