As Israeli developers, we want software to understand Hebrew text. Natural language processing (NLP) for Hebrew is necessary for creating AI applications. As of 2019, this is far from trivial:

1. The computational problem of understanding Hebrew is hard.
2. Hebrew is a “small” language, with lower commercial appeal.
3. Frameworks and tools for NLP in Hebrew are far and few between.

In this presentation we will explore the need for open source Hebrew NLP tools; the problems involved; which tools are available and what we want to improve, hopefully with your help. We believe that closing the gap in this field requires a coordinated effort, led by Academia and supported by government, volunteers and hopefully the industry to create the necessary open source Hebrew NLP tools.