Not Your Father's Demographics: Since 2001: Jewish Births In Israel Up, Muslim Births Down

One of the reasons given for why Israel must forge ahead with peace talks towards a 2 state solution has been that otherwise with the greater Muslim birthrate, Israel will cease to be a Jewish state.

Not so fast.


The fact of the matter is that in Israel, Jewish births up while Muslim births are down:

Immigration Authority statistics show gap between number of Jewish, Muslim newborns increasing

"The common perception that in a few years there will be more non-Jewish Israeli newborns than Jewish ones appears to be detached from reality.

According to Immigration Authority data published by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily on Wednesday, the number of Jewish newborns in Israel has increased by nearly 20% since 2001, while during this time the number of Muslim and Christian newborns has dropped by five and 10%, respectively."

Oh baby!

This won't stop the demographic card from being used by those who demand that Israel take any step--including unilateral concessions--to bring Abbas to the table.

But at the very least, it should be realized that if indeed there is a demographic time bomb, it is not ticking for the Jews.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Demographics.