Report: Arabs could outnumber Jews in Israel and Palestinian territories by 2020
On Tuesday, the bureau said birth rates indicate that Israel’s Arab population will match its Jewish population by 2016 and surpass it by 2020, the Associated Press reported.
Year-end Israeli population data for 2012 said that 6 million Jews live in the country, compared with the 5.8 million Arabs the Palestinian bureau said live in Israel, the West Bank, Gaza and eastern Jerusalem. By 2020, Arabs will outnumber Jews by 7.2 million to 6.9 million, according to the Palestinian bureau.
Hamas could take over Palestinian Authority, Netanyahu warns
(JNS.org) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday warned of the danger that Hamas could take over Palestinian Authority-controlled areas in Judea and Samaria, Israel Hayom reported.
Netanyahu made the statements during a bible study group meeting in memory of his late father-in-law Shmuel Ben-Artzi at the prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem. His words came amid the backdrop of recent unrest in Judea and Samaria and concerns that a Third Intifada could erupt.
Netanyahu’s statements also appeared to be an implicit response to President Shimon Peres. Earlier this week, Peres called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a partner for peace and also said that Israel should be willing to talk to Hamas if the group accepts the conditions of the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators.
“In this week’s Torah portion, it is written ‘Now there arose a new king over Egypt,’” Netanyahu said. “As it was then, it is now. In Egypt, the regime has changed. In Syria, the regime is weakening. This could also happen in the Palestinian Authority areas in Judea and Samaria. Every intelligent person knows that Hamas could take over the Palestinian Authority. It could happen after agreement or it could happen before an agreement, like it did in Gaza.”
“Contrary to voices I’ve been hearing in recent days that have been urging me to rush forward, to make concessions and to withdraw, I think that in a diplomatic process one must act responsibly, not hastily,” Netanyahu said, without mentioning Peres by name. “Otherwise, a third Iranian terror base will arise in the heart of the country. Peace is only achieved once security is guaranteed.”
Texas prisoner will receive kosher meals, court rules
(JNS.org) A U.S. federal appeal court ruled that a Jewish man incarcerated in Texas must receive kosher meals in prison in a case revolving around the 2000 Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which forbids the government from restricting religious rights of institutionalized individuals.
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that Max Moussazadeh, 35, is a practicing Orthodox Jew who keeps a kosher diet, and that the state of Texas infringed on his religious beliefs by denying his request for kosher meals.
Moussazadeh is serving a 75-year sentence for murder. He had sued the state of Texas in 2005 over the kosher meal issue, but prison officials claimed his commitment to such a diet was not sincere and cited his previous purchases of non-kosher food items. “I feel that I am going against my beliefs and that I will be punished by God for not practicing my religion correctly,” Moussazadeh wrote in his 2005 complaint, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Luke Goodrich—Deputy General Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, an organization that helped represent Moussazadeh—called the latest court decision a major victory. “Even prisoners retain their human rights, and the state cannot sacrifice those rights on the altar of bureaucratic convenience,” he said.
Study: Israeli social network GPS Waze helps prevent traffic accidents
(JNS.org) Researchers from the social networks IT security group at Ben Gurion University of the Negev showed that GPS navigation systems, especially location-based social networks such as the application by Israel’s Waze Ltd., have strongly improved drivers’ orientation and helped prevent traffic accidents.
Unlike a traditional navigational GPS system, Waze also provides drivers with information about road traffic, police patrolling and various road hazards. The application functions like a social network because its members are the ones who supply this information to each other. Currently, 28 million registered members worldwide use Waze, including 4 million in Israel, reported Globes.
The study, which was based on Waze data, identified and mapped the location of traffic accidents in Israel on a daily basis. Researchers found via Google Earth that 75 percent of traffic accident-prone locations were intersections. They also found that police arrive on the scene of an accident after an average of 20 minutes, and sometimes up to 40 minutes, from the moment when the accident is first reported.
“Only now are we beginning to discover the potential in the huge amount of data collected daily. Studies of this kind, which monitor events such as traffic accidents over time, can help the police identify dangerous sections of roads in real time, or alternatively, locations where few police are needed,” said the study’s chief researcher.
Preceding provided by JNS.org