Change by statistics bureau to affect over 400,000 Israelis, most of them Russian-speakers not defined as Jewish and non-Arab Christians, who were previously categorized as ‘other’
By Tal Schneider, TOI 10 January 2022, 7:25 pm
Changes to Israel’s census bureau means that citizens will only be classified as Jews or Arabs, with all non-Jews who are not Arab being counted under a new “extended Jewish population” rubric.
The change will see the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) eliminate the separate category of “others” in official publications on demographics, after a request from a Yesh Atid minister who worried the word could put off those included in it.
The “extended Jewish” category will include any citizen who is not Arab and not Jewish according to Jewish religious law. The CBS said it would also classify groups that are neither culturally Jewish nor Arab in the “extended” category.
This means non-Arab Muslims from Israel’s Circassian community will be listed as “extended Jewish,” as will those of other religious denominations who gain citizenship by marrying Israelis, or immigrate under the law of return, which extends citizenship to anyone with a single Jewish grandparent.
Those previously under the “other” designation comprise up to 4.6 percent of the Israeli population.
The new designation is mostly cosmetic and does not affect classifications at the Interior Ministry, which remain unchanged.
The change was made as a result of an appeal by Intelligence Minister Elazar Stern to the chief statistician and director-general of the CBS, Professor Danny Pepperman.
Stern asked for the change after noticing a CBS report in the lead-up to the Jewish New Year in September that listed populations as Jewish, Arab or “other.”
He claimed that Israel had the goal of converting non-Jews who immigrate, and argued that placing them in an “other” category could push them away. A spokesperson was unable to elaborate.
In December, the CBS Advisory Committee was convened and accepted Stern’s proposal to stop labeling members of the group as “others.”
At the end of 2020, 415,147 Israelis were categorized under “other.”
For 91.4% of them, no religion was registered in the population registry. The remaining 8.6% were registered as Christian.
According to the data in the population registry, 60.4% of the group are entitled to citizenship under the Law of Return; most of the rest immigrated to Israel as part of a family reunification.
@ READER-
I really shouldn’t bother, but….here I go….again.
You actually write I was making it (over) simple. I suppose you didn’t notice that I said so in my post. And….again you can’t get out of your habit of “putting words into my mouth”… You’ve been accused several times by others of doing the same thing. Although they were not so polite-some have said you twist their words.
Because I referred to Lieberman as former bouncer and then a night club manager….am I lying…?? And..I despise him….It’s true I don’t give a “tinker’s curse” about him. If I thought about him at all apart from these few posts, I likely would despise him, but…. Oh well..!!
With your imagination, you could have been an early Christian apologist, .if you’d lived in those times.
“To the best of my knowledge”. Maybe your “knowledge” isn’t the best . In fact there have been several articles published in Arutz, JP and another paper I used to read called Ynet, although I have read only Arutz for many years now.
All the above papers carried stories about the many goyim who’d attached themselves to the Russians coming to Israel. Even though they said many, it didn’t preclude the majority being Jews, because it was, and they were..
One thing I applaud you for,. I totally agree that we both don’t want an argument.. and we won’t have one, since this silly subject stops right now -right here. We’ll keep any arguing for more important things.
@Edgar G.
I don’t want to start an argument with you either but I think you are oversimplifying things.
To the best of my knowledge, here were no “other Goyim” other than the family members of the intermarried Jews from 1971 until the early 1990s, and even then the vast majority of the “immigrants” from the FSU were Jewish.
Also, the “other Goyim” are simply too antisemitic to delight for the opportunity to get to Israel, much less to stay there.
As I recall, in the 1980s the Arabs were triumphant because they thought they were winning the demographic war against the Jews.
The “mini exodus” of one million people from the FSU put an end to their gloating.
The bouncer you so despise:
and he also attended college in his native Moldova.
and it looks like he has made a damn good career in Israel for a simple, stupid Russian bouncer with a goyishe following.
Anyway, you explained that you were kidding, however, I would suggest that you dial down your disdain a few notches.
@ READER-
READER my lad….get REAL. I did not say that the only people who support Lieberman are non Jews.
Let me explain it to you really simply, so that you’ll understand.
Those Russians who came to Israel,….. many Jewish families had members who had married “OUT”. In those days ANYBODY would have been very happy to get out of Russia, some Jews spent many years in Siberia and other exilic prisons because they wanted freedom to be Jews and also to leave for Israel.
Nathan Sharansky, whose wife I met before he was freed, is their poster boy. You may know who I mean. (or may not)
Also, there were other Goyim, (Russia clamped down on all religion then) who attacked themselves to the general “mini exodus”, and were delighted for the opportunity to get to Israel, where many stayed. Being Russians, and Lieberman being who he is, they make up the large part of his voting public.
Maybe he’d slung some of them out of the nightclub where he was a bouncer for a while, before he became the manager. So in a way-they were “pals”. (Now don’t start a dispute about this I’m only kidding)
I don’t want to start an argument with you right now, being busy with other things, but later, if you want a good verbal to-and-fro, just do your usual lead-in, and I’ll follow up from there.
You’ve already managed to squeeze out 4 posts between us for this simple nothing.
@Edgar G.
Why do you assume that the only people who support Lieberman’s party are non-Jews?
@ READER-
Yes I know. I didn’t mean Lieberman personally, just his party. supporters. The Russian non-Jews who were attached by family connection to the genuine Jews.
@Edgar G.
If you mean Avigdor Lieberman (the current finance minister), his children are Orthodox Jews.
@ Ted , I believe you are correct.
@Bear
I think all people who have one grand parent that is Jewish can come to Israel under the law of return. This is who Hitler defined as a jew.
@Ted, I believe non-Jewish spouses can move to Israel under Law of the Return.
@Edgar my understanding is that Christians will still be classified as Christians. I do not think the reclassification is anything official (pertaining to I.D. cards) or practical in the sense of marriages.
@ TED-
Maybe that’s what it means. (it’s a guess at this moment, a jigsaw puzzle of words.) But that’s not what it says. Sounds like political “double-speak”. which requires more explanation. Perhaps the Christians will ask for clarity.
It may have something to so with Lieberman’s Russian non-Jewish relatives of genuine Jews.
It seems to me that anyone who comes in under the Law of Return will be classified as Jews.
Do I understand from this nonsense, that a Catholic or other Christian is now an “extended Jewish” whadda-ya-may-call-em……??
Surely the Greek and Russian Orthodox will go on strike. Maybe a Hunger Strike…??