Israel economy continues to grow but problems remain for strictly Orthodox

In particular,Israeli Arabs were “unambiguously disadvantaged across all dimensions for which measures are available, experiencing higher rates of poverty and lower levels of labour force participation, educational attainment and health status”, the OECD noted.

Both the strictly Orthodox and Arab Israelis were also “not well integrated into the labour market, resulting in widespread poverty”.

One suggestion was “compulsory civilian service for those who do not perform military service”, which the OECD said would “help to strengthen social cohesion and could also be used to further improve participants’ education and skills”.

The OECD also called the Israeli banking sector “concentrated and inefficient” and criticised the lack of new houses built by the government since 2002.

“Fulfilling the requirements for planning and building a home in Israel takes an average of 13 years, more than twice as long as in other OECD countries like Germany or Sweden,” the organisation said.