Thursday, September 29, 2022

Israel Demographics 2022

 As we reach another year in the Hebrew calendar, there is always a review of the population and the Israel Bureau of Statistics has a wealth of information on the demographics of the country.

The State of Israel had a population of approximately 9,593,000 inhabitants as of September 2022. Some 74% were Jews of all backgrounds (about 7,021,000 individuals), 21% were Arab of any religion other than Jewish (about 2,206,000 individuals).

The remaining 5% (about 498,000 individuals) were defined as "others", including people of Jewish ancestry not deemed Jewish by religious law and people who are family members of Jewish immigrants (neither of which are registered at the Ministry of Interior as Jews), Christian non-Arabs, Muslim non-Arabs and all other residents who have neither an ethnic nor religious classification.


Israel's annual population growth rate stood at 2.0% in 2015, more than three times faster than the OECD average of around 0.6%.[4] With an average of three children per woman, Israel also has the highest fertility rate in the OECD by a considerable margin and much higher than the OECD average of 1.7.

Age structure

 

Unlike most developed countries, and some not so well developed, the percentage of the over 65’s is very healthy. Serious problems are on the way in many countries, Iran and Turkey as two examples, where the percentage of the elderly is climbing to unsupportable levels of over 25%.

 

The breakdown in Israel is:-

·        0–14 years: 28.0%

·        15–64 years: 62.1%

·        65 years and over: 9.9%

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Palestinians and World Do Not Need Another Corrupt, Failed Terrorist Arab State

 by Khaled Abu Toameh  

  • The truth, however, is that neither the Palestinian Authority leadership nor the Palestinian people is ready for statehood. And the responsibility for that fact lies squarely with the ruthless and failed Palestinian leaders.
  • The Palestinian bid to obtain UN recognition of a Palestinian state comes at a time when the PA appears to be losing control over some parts of the West Bank, where gunmen belonging to several groups have replaced the Palestinian security forces... [and] are responsible not only for terrorist attacks against Israel, but also the growing scenes of anarchy and lawlessness....
  • Abbas himself has long been praising and glorifying Palestinians who carry out terrorist attacks....
  • Abbas, who is unable (and unwilling) to rein in a few hundred gunmen in two major Palestinian cities in the West Bank, wants the United Nations, its member states and the rest of the world to believe that he is ready to run a state of his own.
  • If Abbas cannot send his officers to confiscate an M-16 rifle from an unruly gunman in Jenin or Nablus, how can he be trusted to prevent the future Palestinian state from turning into a launching pad for regional terrorism?
  • Abbas wants the UN to grant the Palestinians the status of full member state, but cannot provide any guarantees that the aspired-for state would not be turned into a terror entity that is armed and funded by Iran's regime and its proxies.
  • Abbas wants the UN to recognize "Palestine" as a state when he literally has no control over half of the Palestinians... If Abbas dares to go to the Gaza Strip, Hamas will hang him at the entrance to the area on charges of "collaboration" with Israel.
  • Abbas is seeking full UN recognition at a time when he continues to block general elections for the PA, arrests and intimidates his political opponents, refuses to share power with other Palestinians and muzzles freedom of expression.
  • More than they need a state, the Palestinians need good leadership. They need to rid themselves of the corrupt leaders who have deprived them of international aid and led them from one disaster after the other since the early 1970s, when the PLO was expelled from Jordan for undermining the kingdom's sovereignty.
  • [T]he Palestinians' biggest tragedy by far has been failed leadership and more failed leadership. It radicalizes them toward Islamic fundamentalism and deprives them of elections, freedom of expression and international aid. The UN member states would be doing a great service to the Palestinians if they asked Abbas about the absence of freedom of speech and a functioning parliament under his regime.
  • They would also be doing the Palestinian people a huge service if they asked Abbas about torture in Palestinian Authority prisons and the continuing crackdown by his security forces on human rights activists and journalists. And they should definitely ask him what measures he has taken to end financial and administrative corruption in the PA.
  • These issues are more pressing for the Palestinians than another worthless document by the UN recognizing a fictitious Palestinian state that is already marked by the intrusion of other brutal radical Islamist dictatorships.

Wednesday, September 7, 2022

The Arabs convinced nuclear deal will bring terror and violence to the US.

By Khaled Abu Toameh, https://tinyurl.com/yc2b5ycr

The talk about an imminent revival of the nuclear deal between Iran and the Biden administration and other Western countries has raised serious concerns among many Arabs.

They state that they are especially worried about the billions of dollars that Iran’s mullahs will receive once the deal is done.

The Arabs say they have no doubt that the money would be used by the mullahs to promote more terrorism and violence and expand Tehran’s terrorist proxies in the Middle East, including Hezbollah, the Houthis, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and various militias in Iraq.

“The Arabs will be shocked when the details of the new nuclear deal are published,” wrote Sayed Zahra, deputy editor of Bahrain’s Akhbar Al-Khaleej.

He noted that before the state of shock engulfs the Arabs, they need to take in mind a number of facts that are related to the impending nuclear deal.

First, the agreement was made primarily at the insistence of the Biden administration, which has been desperate to reach it. The Biden administration thinks that it is in dire need of the agreement today to present it as one of its great accomplishments.

Second, it was the U.S., not Iran, that initiated the concessions to facilitate reaching the agreement. A few days ago, U.S. officials announced that it was Iran, not America, that had given up core demands. They lie. Iran has not given up on anything essential. On the contrary, Iran has obtained the essential demands it wants.

Third, the most dangerous concession made by the U.S. was to waive the inclusion of Iran’s expansionist terrorist role in the region, its threats to the security and stability of Arab countries, the terrorist subversive role that Iran’s proxy militias play in the Arab countries, and the issue of the Iranian missile program.

Fourth, the agreement will provide huge financial resources to the Iranian regime as a result of the lifting of sanctions and the rush of Western countries to deal with it.”

Zahra warned that the agreement would mark the beginning of a new era of complete American disregard for the interests of the Arab countries.

“These are the basic facts that we must be aware of before we are shocked,” Zahra added. “Based on these facts, the Arab countries are supposed to decide what they will do and how they will deal with the coming danger.”

Earlier, echoing the sentiments of many other Arab political analysts and columnists, he wrote that Biden has decided “to bow” to Iran. “Why did he do this even though he is fully aware of Arab fears and demands, which he heard directly, firmly and clearly during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia from all Arab leaders?”

Syrian author Ibrahim Allush commented on the news about an imminent deal by expressing fear that his country would pay a heavy price.

Allush pointed out that the Syrians have been hit harder by the Iranians than anyone else. Referring to the presence of Iranian security officials and Iranian-backed militiamen in his country, Allush wrote:

Allush warned that a return to the nuclear deal would mean “refinancing the mullahs’ regime and its militias with billions of dollars annually.”

“The signing of the Iranian nuclear agreement may be a partial solution to the oil and gas crises caused by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against the Ukrainian people. But it will not be a solution that brings peace to Syria. Iran, which incites terrorism in the region, will be happy with the return of its generous funding, and we Syrians will suffer. We oppose this agreement, despite all our difficult circumstances, because it will bring more money to the Assad regime and its intelligence system, as well as to the Iranian militias that participate with it in committing crimes against the Syrians.”

Lebanese journalist Abdul Wahab Badrakhan suggested that instead of paying attention to the mullahs’ policies and actions in the region, the Biden administration chose to appease Iran so that it could bargain with it on the nuclear issue.

Saudi political analyst Abdullah Bin Bijad Al-Otaibi wrote that the fears of the Arab countries regarding the nuclear agreement are completely valid.

‘Chaos, instability and terrorism’

These fears, Al-Otaibi noted, are not limited to Iran’s nuclear weapon, but also to interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries and the spread of fundamentalist and terrorist militias and organizations. The Arabs also worried about the mullahs’ efforts to export their terrorism to other countries.

Egyptian author Emil Amin also expressed concern that the mullahs would use the billions of dollars they are about to receive under the new deal to support their terrorist militias and proxies. “Iran will not give up its dream of acquiring nuclear weapons,” Amin wrote.

Saudi commentator Mashar Al-Thaydi wrote that the Gulf states and other Arab countries, including Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, are directly concerned about the future once a deal is reached with Iran.

Lebanese columnist Rafik Khoury warned that the Biden administration is “repeating non-stop self-deception” as the mullahs themselves continue to practice deception.

The closer that the Biden administration moves towards the mullahs in Tehran, the more the U.S. loses credibility in the Arab world. The Arabs seem to have lost confidence in the Biden administration, which is why they are now talking about the need to take matters into their own hands and try to stop Iran from endangering their security and stability. The Arabs also appear convinced that that pouring billions of dollars on the mullahs will eventually bring terrorism and violence to the U.S. and the other Western powers involved in the new deal, if not a major war.