Israel News for 9-1-17

Terror Song
Security forces arrested the singer, composer and producers of a song praising the terrorist who murdered the three members of the Salomon in a brutal terror attack earlier this summer. The song was video being performed at a Palestinian wedding earlier this week, which is how it came to the attention of the security forces. This is the first time singers and composers of Palestinian incitement songs have been arrested in the West Bank.

Security forces also carried out overnight raids in several Palestinian villages in the West Bank in which they uncovered weapons and arrested 15 terror suspects.

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Ambassador Refused
Jordan is refusing to allow Israel’s Ambassador to return to the Israeli embassy in Jordan because she was photographed together with the Israeli guard who shot and killed a Jordanian outside of the embassy several weeks ago.

The incident caused an uproar in Jordan, causing the ambassador and the entire embassy staff, including the guard, to return to Israel. Sources say that if the Jordanians continue to refuse the ambassador’s return, Israel will be forced to appoint a new ambassador in order to restore relations.

Israeli police are still investigating the shooting but the assumption is that the guard shot in self defense.

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PM Visits TA
Three days after the Supreme Court ruled that the State cannot detain illegal migrants for more than 60 days, PM Netanyahu visited South Tel Aviv, where the majority of illegal migrants live. The PM spoke with residents and listened to their complaints about the illegals and also presided over the opening of a new police station in the neighborhood.

Netanyahu stressed Israel’s right to deport illegal immigrants and said that the government would pass new legislation to circumvent the Supreme Court decision. He also said that the government would crack down on those who employ illegal immigrants.

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Muslim Stats
Ahead of this weekend’s Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has released several statistical figures regarding Israel’s Muslim population.

According to the report, 1.534 million Muslims resided in Israel in 2016, comprising 17.7% of the country’s population. The Muslim population’s annual growth rate has remained constant at 2.4% in the past three years. The Muslim birthrate dropped from from 4.7 children per woman in 2000 to 3.29 children today, but it’s still greater than any other population segment including Jewish. Around 35% of the Muslim population is below 14 years old (534,300), while only 3.9% is 65 and over (59,800).

Jersualem has the highest number of Muslims with 360,000, which comprise 36% of the city’s population. Three second largest concentration of Muslims is in the Negev city of Rahat (64,000).

For more statistics click here.

School Starts
The new school year began today for around 2.2 million Israeli students and 180,000 school staff. The Prime Minister and President visited schools to greet children. Of course there were a few strikes and parent complaints, but overall things seem to go smoothly.

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