Free Republic

The bubble of demographic fatalism is bursting, according to the most recent data, published by the Central Bureau of Statistics. The data should be leveraged by the new government to formulate a demographic policy aimed at increasing the current 67 percent Jewish majority west of the Jordan River (without Gaza). The road map would uproot demographic fatalism and advance demographic optimism, thus energizing aliya, the economy, overseas investments, diplomacy, national security, posture of deterrence and minimizing Jewish-Arab tension, which is fed by demographic fear. According to the CBS, the country's Jewish population is getting younger and the Arab population getting...

As Ground Zero-area mosque Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf heads home a few days early from his State Department-sponsored trip to the Mideast, the Wall Street Journal quotes from two letters he wrote to the NY Times in the 1970s in which he is less-than-committed to preserving the Jewish State of Israel. The interest has been peaked, in part, because of the comments he was quoted making on "60 Minutes" in which he called the U.S. an "accessory" to the 9/11 attacks in the days shortly after the carnage, and a separate interview recently in which he wouldn't denounce Hamas as...

Fertility rates in Jerusalem have been declining among Arabs and rising among Jews in recent years, according to statistics the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies issued to mark Jerusalem Day, today. Among Arabs the rate has dropped to 4 children in 2006, from 4.3 in 2000, and among Jews it has risen to 3.9 children in 2006 from 3.7 in 2000. However, the ratio of Jews and Arabs hasn't changed - 66 percent Jews (489,480) and 34 percent Arabs (256,820) totaling 746,300 at the end of 2007. The negative migration balance in Jerusalem continued last year as 18,750 residents (most...

(IsraelNN.com) The demographic threat has always been and continues to be the most persuasive argument of the pro-territorial compromise camp. The left claims, in short, that Israel, as a democratic country, cannot rule for long over a large population that lacks political rights. Those in the pro-withdrawal camp say that if Israel continues to hold on to Judea and Samaria, it will be forced to grant Israeli citizenship to the Arabs living there. This, together with higher population growth among Arabs than among Jews, will soon lead to an Arab majority west of the Jordan River. The resulting Arab political...

A little levity can go a long way, especially if you're a woman trying to conceive via in-vitro fertilization (IVF). That's the lesson that's been gleaned from a first-of-its kind study conducted in Israel that showed that using humor to alleviate the stress of the patients almost doubles their chances of conceiving from the treatments. A team led by fertility expert Dr. Shevah Friedler at the Assaf Harofeh Medical Center studied 186 women aged 25 to 40 over 10 months, all of whom were undergoing embryo transfer treatment. While half were simply given the treatment and nothing else, the other...

The latest Israeli population statistics show that its the Christian community is still growing, contradicting claims that the Jewish State is trying to rid itself of its Christian minority. The number of Christians in Israel showed a slight increase to 137,000, or 2.1 percent of the total population, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. Of these, 115,000 are Arab. The increase is important since pro-Palestinian Christian groups have charged that Israel is seeking a decrease to the Christian population in the Holy Land. In contrast, the Christian community in Judea/Samaria and Gaza has dramatically dropped to less than 2.0%, ...

By the end of the decade, there are projected to be 7.13 million Palestinians, compared to 6.96 million Jews, in Israel and Palestine. New estimates show that high Palestinian birth rates, are set to equal the number of Jews in Israel and Palestine by late 2017, Haaretz daily reported. According to a recent report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, currently, the number of Palestinian residents of Israel, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank is about 6.22 million. Palestinians worldwide are estimated to number some 12.37 million, with 5.46 million living in Arab countries, 2.9 million in the...

Jewish women in Israel are having more children, while Muslim women are having less, a new report issued by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics has revealed. According to the report, Jewish women give birth on average to 3 children, up from 2.53 in 1995. Muslim women give birth to 3.51 children on average, down considerably from last decade, when the number reached 4.74. Druze women have seen a considerable decrease in fertility rate, though the time period included in the report was much more significant. In 1965 Druze women were having on average 7.61 children. In 2012 that number was...

The Jewish birthrate in Jerusalem is higher than the Arab birthrate, putting an end to reports of an Arab demographic threat in the united capital. The birthrate in the expected life of mothers is 4.2 children for Jewish mothers compared with 3.9 children for Arab mothers, according to the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies (JIIS). Reflecting the trend in the rest of Israel, the birthrate for Jews represents a dramatic reversal and is on the increase while the Arab birthrate is declining. In 1999, the birthrate was only 3.8 for Jewish mothers and 4.4 for Arabs, the JIIS reported. Jews...

Citing what she called an “abnormally high birthrate for Jews,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton bemoaned its impact on the Middle East “peace process.” “If Israeli Jews reproduced at rates similar to American Jews, demographics alone would resolve the issue in a couple of generations,” Clinton asserted. “At current Jewish birthrates, though, we’ll see Jewish control of the Israeli government stretching out for centuries to come.” Clinton suggested that “stepped up birth control measures among the Jews and opening the borders to Palestinian immigrants would help expedite a peaceful political settlement of the issue. It is the Jewishness of...

The country's fertility rate continues to rise; the average number of babies born to Muslim women is falling; having babies before the age of 20 is less common, and the average age when women have their first child is up. These are some of the findings of the report on Patterns of Fertility in 2006 released this week by the Central Bureau of Statistics. A total of 148,170 babies came into the world last year: 71 percent of them were born to Jewish mothers and 23% to Muslims; 3% to women of undetermined religion; 2% to Druse; and 1% to...

Israeli women have an average of 3 children, Ynetnews reported. This makes Israel's birthrate higher than all European countries. The data, submitted by the Health Ministry, shows that for every 1000 Israelis 24 babies are born each year. The European yearly average is 10 babies for every 1000 citizens. In the UK, the average birthrate is 12, and in France and Germany the average is only 9.

(IsraelNN.com) As Israel enters its 60th year, the American-Israel Demographic Research Group (AIDRG) provides some good news: The ground is being prepared for a major Jewish demographic boost, beginning in 2025. The Arab birthrate is down, while the Jewish birthrate - especially in the hareidi and religious sectors - is increasing. The effects are currently merely arithmetic, but these are expected to begin multiplying geometrically within a generation. At present, the Jewish majority is hovering around 80%, with the religious and hareidi populations each representing slightly over 10% of this amount. Latest Central Bureau of Statistics numbers show that there...

Contrary to most demographic predictions regarding the population statistics of Israel, a revolution of sorts is underway in the Jewish Israeli birthrate. According to a Health Ministry report, the Jewish Israeli birthrate is on the rise, while the Arab Israeli birthrate remains unchanged. In Israel of 2003, 144,625 babies were born, representing an increase of 3.4% over 2002. A breakdown of the statistics reveals that the Jewish population saw an increase of 4.8% and the Arab population saw no change. In addition, the Health Ministry reported, there was a notable decline in infant mortality in 2003. During the year, 718...

I wrote about Bruno Kreisky last year in the context of discussing Austria’s Islamization. There’s no doubt that Kreisky was a real demented piece of work, on a par with Norman Finkelstein or M.J. Rosenberg. Austria’s Socialist Chancellor, Bruno Kreisky, despite being of Jewish ancestry, was fond of Muslim terrorists and Nazis. He had a habit of filling his cabinet with former Nazis while comparing Zionism to Nazism. His political success rested on a welfare state built with Soviet money funneled through commercial orders and turning a blind eye to terrorist attacks carried out with Soviet and Polish machine guns...

With tear-gas flying in the streets of Turkey, Ukraine's civil-war raging in the south and east, US drones based in Japan to oversee the South China Sea, and Europe's extremist parties gaining significant traction, today we get one more piece of considerably worrisome geopolitical news that global stock markets must ignore. The Sunday Times reports that Israel is to deploy three submarines equipped with nuclear cruise missiles in the Persian Gulf that are meant to act as a deterrent, gather intelligence and potentially to land Mossad agents. Iran is not happy, warning that "anyone who wishes to do an evil...