Ettinger's Second Thought

 Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger, “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” March 6, 2025

In 2024, the number of Israel’s Jewish births was 138,698 – 73%
higher than 1995 (80,400), compared to 42,911 Arab births – 18% higher
than 1995 (36,500).

2024 Jewish births were 76% of total births, compared to 69% in 1995. The surge of Jewish births has taken place due to the unprecedented rise of births (since 1995) in the secular sector, notwithstanding a rising level of education, income, wedding age, and expanded urbanization. Since 1995, Israel’s ultra-orthodox sector has experienced a mild decrease in fertility, while the modern orthodox rate of fertility has been stable.

The Muslim fertility rate has been Westernized: Jordan has 2.87 births per woman, Iran has 1.91, Saudi Arabia has 1.87, Morocco has 2.25, Iraq has 3.1, Egypt has 2.65, Yemen has 2.82, and the United Arab Emirates has 1.61.

Yoram says that the leftist politicians are negotiating with the Arabs in a cold sweat, anguished by the unstoppable growth of the Arab population. His analysis shows that there is no worry, since the fastest-growing population in the Middle East, including the Palestinians, are Israeli Jews. 

May I add that all the peoples who had some contact with the Jewish people—the Egyptians 2500 years ago, the Greeks of Antiquity, Tzarist Russia, and the Germans a generation ago—were impressed and frightened by Jewish fertility.