New census figures released today in Israel show that the Jewish state has taken its place, for the first time in modern history, as the country with the country with the largest share of global Jewry. The United States came in second with approximately 5.5 million Jews, followed by France (500,000), Canada (380,000), and Britain (290,000).
The symbolic milestone underscores years of polling data demonstrating that Israeli Jews consistently show some of the highest levels of patriotism and national pride in the world.
There is something of a cottage industry in anti-Israel circles, where activists manufacture articles and anecdotes to the effect that Israeli Jews — in response to a variety of trends and policies — are dissatisfied with their country, or depressed about their country, or fleeing their country. Those assertions are then mobilized to suggest that the trends and policies themselves are impossible to justify. Empirical evidence does not bear out those claims. The video embedded below is a small example as to why.
Israel’s total population increased by 1.8 percent over the last two years. The country is now home to 1.6 million Arabs and 350,000 non-Arab Christians. Last year, 170,000 babies were born in the country, and 17,000 new immigrants arrived.
[Photo: rehovbograshov / YouTube]
