TIMES OF ISRAEL
The one place in the Middle East where minorities are thriving
Hussain Abdul-Hussain
June 18, 2023

Palestinian propagandists want you to believe that Israel is engaged in the “ethnic cleansing” of non-Jews. A closer look at demographics, however, proves otherwise. On the occasion of Jerusalem Day last month, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics published numbers showing that close to forty percent of the residents of Jerusalem are Arabs, a level unchanged since a census was taken as far back as 1947, a year before the founding of the state. Israel is a Jewish state. Its minorities are Arab: Muslim, Christian, and Druze. Their numbers have grown steadily along with the country’s overall population. In areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA), everyone is Arab. Muslims are the majority and Christians a dwindling minority that fears for its security. In neighboring Lebanon, whose population is overwhelmingly Arab, Christians were a majority when the state was founded in 1920, although not anymore. If one asks where minorities thrive in the Middle East, the answer is Israel. READ MORE