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The Sky Is Not Falling, Israel Will Not Disappear
People wave Israeli flags following the release of hostages who were seized during the Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and held in the Gaza Strip, in Ofakim, Israel, Nov. 30, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
I was born and raised in Canada, an affluent country, rich in natural resources. An old joke tells us that when Moses was leading the Israelites to the Promised Land, he actually meant to bring them to Canada, but since he stuttered, it came out of his mouth as Canaan.
For Jews trying to escape Nazi Europe before, during and even after World War II, Canada was not a welcoming place. However, in recent decades, Canada has become a haven for hundreds of thousands of immigrants and refugees from all parts of the globe.
Yet, according to a recent report, a record number of Canadians are leaving the country. In 2024, emigration from Canada reached its highest level since 2017, with 81,601 people packing their bags and heading for the exits.
If it was up to me, after a lifetime of traveling to many places, I would be tempted to designate New Zealand as the Promised Land — a land of plenty, a land with a wonderfully temperate climate, and, perhaps most importantly, a land located in a quiet neighborhood. Yet, New Zealand is experiencing a period of stagnating population growth as, emigration-soars.
Why am I bringing this up? Because of a recent flurry of apocalyptic articles, in news sources such as Neue Zurcher Zeiting, a Swiss daily newspaper, which reported that Israel’s emigration rates surged, rekindling old fears, when population growth was a major worry for the Jewish State.
Another article, in the Middle East Monitor, a pro-Palestinian news source, gleefully reported on Israel’s growing emigration — stating that half a million Israelis have fled and predicting dire consequences for the Jewish State.
Does this mean that someone should put up a sign at Ben Gurion Airport telling the last Israeli leaving the country to turn off the lights?
Not at all. Here are the facts: Israel is today a country of nearly 10 million people, three quarters of whom are Jews. Yes, it is true, in the year 2024, 82,000 Israelis emigrated, a higher number than usual, but not unheard of. There have been other periods, particularly during the 1980s, when emigration exceeded immigration. Moreover, 24,000 Israelis returned from abroad and 33,000 new immigrants arrived, mostly from Russia, but also from Western countries.
Israel’s population actually grew in 2024, because of its high birth rate, by far the highest in the 38 member OECD. The average Israeli woman gives birth to nearly three children, about double the OECD average. (It went up in 2023/2024 during the war with Hamas and Hezbollah.) The higher fertility numbers are true for both secular and religious Jews.
Israelis live in a free democratic society. They are free to come and go, and emigrating Israelis (yordim, as opposed to immigrants, those who make aliyah) have existed since before the state was established. What is different today is that the number of Israelis living abroad (expatriates) has become substantial.
In fact, nearly a million Israelis live abroad, more than 600,000 who emigrated, plus about 300,000 children born to Israelis living outside Israel. This means roughly one in ten Israelis live outside the country. Is this demographic situation unusual? Not at all. About the same percentage of Canadians live outside Canada due to high costs within the country. The number for New Zealand is even higher, almost 22%.
About 80% of the expatriate Israelis are Jewish, and they now form a growing proportion of the diaspora Jewish community. Roughly one third live in Europe, where, to some extent, they have replenished declining Jewish populations. The rest are in North America. It remains to be seen how this shift in the makeup of the Diaspora plays out. I wonder whether the recent post-October 7 rise in antisemitism in much of the Western world will lead to an increase in the number of expatriate Jewish Israelis who return to Israel.
Predictions about the demise of the Jewish State are not new. My favorite is one by William Eddy, former special assistant to the US Secretary of State, who toured the Middle East in 1947, just before the UN voted on the partition of the Palestinian mandate. He reported, “When partition comes, the Arabs will throw the Jews out … They will have no difficulty at all.”
Jacob Sivak, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, is a retired professor, University of Waterloo.
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Iran Says It Has Replaced Air Defenses Damaged in Israel War
The S-300 missile system is seen during the National Army Day parade ceremony in Tehran, Iran, April 17, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iran has replaced air defenses damaged during last month’s conflict with Israel, Iran’s Defah Press news agency reported on Sunday quoting Mahmoud Mousavi, the regular army’s deputy for operations.
During the conflict in June, Israel’s air force dominated Iran’s airspace and dealt a heavy blow to the country’s air defenses while Iranian armed forces launched successive barrages of missiles and drones on Israeli territory.
“Some of our air defenses were damaged, this is not something we can hide, but our colleagues have used domestic resources and replaced them with pre-arranged systems that were stored in suitable locations in order to keep the airspace secure,” Mousavi said.
Prior to the war, Iran had its own domestically-made long-range air defense system Bavar-373 in addition to the Russian-made S-300 system. The report by Defah Press did not mention any import of foreign-made air defense systems to Iran in past weeks.
Following limited Israeli strikes against Iranian missile factories last October, Iran later displayed Russian-made air defenses in a military exercise to show it recovered from the attack.
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Calm Reported in Syria’s Sweida, Damascus Says Truce Holding
Members of Internal Security Forces stand guard at an Internal Security Forces’ checkpoint working to prevent Bedouin fighters from advancing towards Sweida, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Walgha, Sweida province, Syria, July 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
Residents reported calm in Syria’s Sweida on Sunday after the Islamist-led government announced that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and a US envoy signaled that a deal to end days of fighting was being implemented.
With hundreds reported killed, the Sweida bloodshed is a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, prompting Israel to launch airstrikes against government forces last week as it declared support for the Druze. Fighting continued on Saturday despite a ceasefire call.
Interior Minister Anas Khattab said on Sunday that internal security forces had managed to calm the situation and enforce the ceasefire, “paving the way for a prisoner exchange and the gradual return of stability throughout the governorate.”
Reuters images showed interior ministry forces near the city, blocking the road in front of members of tribes congregated there. The Interior Ministry said late on Saturday that Bedouin fighters had left the city.
US envoy Tom Barrack said the sides had “navigated to a pause and cessation of hostilities”. “The next foundation stone on a path to inclusion, and lasting de-escalation, is a complete exchange of hostages and detainees, the logistics of which are in process,” he wrote on X.
Kenan Azzam, a dentist, said there was an uneasy calm but the city’s residents were struggling with a lack of water and electricity. “The hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded,” he said by phone.
Another resident, Raed Khazaal, said aid was urgently needed. “Houses are destroyed … The smell of corpses is spread throughout the national hospital,” he said in a voice message to Reuters from Sweida.
The Syrian state news agency said an aid convoy sent to the city by the government was refused entry while aid organized by the Syrian Red Crescent was let in. A source familiar with the situation said local factions in Sweida had turned back the government convoy.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Sunday that Israel sent urgent medical aid to the Druze in Sweida and the step was coordinated with Washington and Syria. Spokespeople for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Foreign Ministry and the military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Druze are a small but influential minority in Syria, Israel and Lebanon who follow a religion that is an offshoot of a branch of Shi’ite Islam. Some hardline Sunnis deem their beliefs heretical.
The fighting began a week ago with clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters. Damascus sent troops to quell the fighting, but they were drawn into the violence and accused of widespread violations against the Druze.
Residents of the predominantly Druze city said friends and neighbours were shot at close range in their homes or in the streets by Syrian troops, identified by their fatigues and insignia.
Sharaa on Thursday promised to protect the rights of Druze and to hold to account those who committed violations against “our Druze people.”
He has blamed the violence on “outlaw groups.”
While Sharaa has won US backing since meeting President Donald Trump in May, the violence has underscored the challenge he faces stitching back together a country shattered by 14 years of conflict, and added to pressures on its mosaic of sectarian and ethnic groups.
COASTAL VIOLENCE
After Israel bombed Syrian government forces in Sweida and hit the defense ministry in Damascus last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had established a policy demanding the demilitarization of territory near the border, stretching from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain, east of Sweida.
He also said Israel would protect the Druze.
The United States however said it did not support the Israeli strikes. On Friday, an Israeli official said Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area for two days.
A Syrian security source told Reuters that internal security forces had taken up positions near Sweida, establishing checkpoints in western and eastern parts of the province where retreating tribal fighters had gathered.
On Sunday, Sharaa received the report of an inquiry into violence in Syria’s coastal region in March, where Reuters reported in June that Syrian forces killed 1,500 members of the Alawite minority following attacks on security forces.
The presidency said it would review the inquiry’s conclusions and ensure steps to “bring about justice” and prevent the recurrence of “such violations.” It called on the inquiry to hold a news conference on its findings – if appropriate – as soon as possible.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said on July 18 it had documented the deaths of at least 321 people in Sweida province since July 13. The preliminary toll included civilians, women, children, Bedouin fighters, members of local groups and members of the security forces, it said, and the dead included people killed in field executions by both sides.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another monitoring group, has reported a death toll of at least 940 people.
Reuters could not independently verify the tolls.
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Pope Leo Calls for End to ‘Barbarity of War’ After Strike on Gaza Church
Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, July 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Pope Leo called for an end to the “barbarity of war” on Sunday as he spoke of his profound pain over an Israeli strike on the sole Catholic church in Gaza.
Three people died and several were injured, including the parish priest, in the strike on the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza City on Thursday. Photos show its roof has been hit close to the main cross, scorching the stone facade, and shattering windows.
Speaking after his Angelus prayer, Leo read out the names of those killed in the incident.
“I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, of indiscriminate use of force and forced displacement of the population,” he said.
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