What percentage of Israelis are actually Jewish?

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tripper

Jews do not constitute an ethnic group; there are for example Black Jews of Ethiopian ancestry; Arab Jews,principally from Yemen; and European Jews or Ashkenazi. Therefore "Jewishness" can only be defined as a religious affiliation or at least affinity. According to Jennifer Miller's recent book - she is the daughter of a top Jewish-American peace process negotiator and a participant of the Seeds of Peace program - at least 80% of the nominally Jewish citizens of the Israeli republic are atheists or agnostics and their families have been for many generations; in other words,most Israeli nationals are not actually Jewish as the term is normally defined. Essentially if you have at least one grandparent who practiced Judaism the government considers you "Jewish". Ironically,American fundamentalists are passionate supporters of zionism because they believe that the Israeli state consists of Jews "returning" to their long-lost homeland,as was prophesized in Revelations. Meanwhile the remaining 20% are ultra-Orthodox Jews who obviously are Jewish but statistically about as unrepresentative of modern Jews as Mennonites are of contemporary Christians. The millions of Reform Jews who contribute about a billion a year to the United Jewish Fund for Israel are apparently not aware of this,since in the U.S. ultra-Orthodox and Reform Jews are highly antipathetic. Like anything to do with the Israeli state none of this makes any real sense. Only the Arab or mizrahi Jews are of Semitic ancestry. And the ashkenazi despise them because of their "Arab" ways.

Cool Breeze

I think Tripper has provided an extremely well-informed and comprehensive response,to which I can add nothing. I will simply say that I agree with his assessment.

Maya

About 20% are religious,the rest are atheists or agnostics. There is no such thing as "semitic blood" since Semites are a linguistic group,the largest being the Arabic-speaking peoples of the world.

Shadi

According to Wikpedia in the 11th century Ashkenazi Jews comprised only 3% of the world's Jewish population, Ashkenazi Jews accounted for (at their highest) 92% of the world's Jews in 1931 and today make up approximately 80% of Jews worldwide
The Ashkenazi Jews are not semitic. They are the children of Poland and Russia and not the children of Israel. As they are not even biological descendants of Abraham so they are not included in God's promise.
Did you ever ask yourself, why did Britain give them this land? Because the Arab resistance was tough and many condemned this occupation back then. So the only solution for this occupation to survive is to establish this state of Europeans in the middle of Arab world so the Muslims never become one and strong again(The great Syria).

This is the origin of the Jews today:
http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts-jews.html
Who are the Jews today, from Jewish historian book:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIrWrxuR_GM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ71oxfudD0
This is how real semitic people look like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLoCRD4mLLI

Edit:
Most Russian Jewish were atheists under communist rule and few followed traditional Jewish religious dictates. Over 30,000 Russian-born men have been ritually circumcised in Israel. Glenn Frankel notes the case of an Israeli rabbi who "ordered a circumcision performed on the corpse of a Russian immigrant killed in a traffic accident before the rabbi would allow it to be buried in a Jewish grave. Later it turned out that hundreds of other corpses had been similarly mutilated at cemeteries throughout the country." [FRANKEL, p. 168]: Jonathan Frankel:historian of Russian and Jewish history.

Alex

1 precent

yotg

76% of the Israeli population is Jewish.

The definition of "Jewish" is complicated and varied, as Judaism is both religion and ethnicity or either.
The Halachic (=Jewish religious law) rule that most Jewish sects agree upon defines "Jewish" as someone who was either born to a Jewish mother or was converted to Judaism; this definition meets both ethnic and religious features of Judaism.

The Law of Return gives any "Jew" the right to immigrate to Israel and become a citizen.
It accepts the Halachic definition above as the ultimate definition of Jewish, but also guarantee citizenship to non-Jews who are the "son/daughter or a grandson/granddaughter of a Jew, and the spouse thereof".
The latter group does not meet the religious definition, but the law provides shelter to people who might be persecuted for their Jewish origin.
This law is phrased as a response to the Nazi definition of Jewish (=anyone who has one Jewish grandparent, whether male or female).

kismet

Being Jewish has nothing to do with "semitic blood" (although DNA tests have proven that Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews are related to non-Jewish Arabs).
According to Wikipedia, Israel is 76% Jewish, 19% Arab, 5% minority groups.

Liora

The state of Israel actually insists that the qualification for becoming a new Israeli citizen is to be a Jew, to have a Jewish grandparent, be married to a a Jew or to have a child living in Israel with Israeli citizenship.

However, there are many Israeli Christians, Moslems and Druze.

There are also residents from countries such as Germany, the Phillipines, China, Korea and the Sudan, who are not Israeli or Jewish, and have no plans to become so.

There are approximately 300,000 Russian immigrants, and several thousand Ethiopian immigrants, who are currently undergoing processes of religious conversion, as while they have a right of return, they are not considered Jewish.

The Religious Leadership insist that the "qualification" for being a Jew is to have a Jewish Mother or to have converted to Judaism under the auspices of a recognised "Conversion Authority".

I have joint Israeli/British citizenship; I left the UK in 2006 to live in Israel under the Law of Return. It was the best thing I ever did.

Israel is a beautiful country; the people are warm and welcoming. Some of the greatest brains in the world are here - inventing, for example, the microchip & the mobile phone, as well as being at the forefront of the discovery of numerous medical procedures and the development of pharmaceuticals. We have the most advanced desalination procedures in the world - and are the only true democracy in the Middle East.

A little country, the size of Wales, with a big heart

They claim 80%. Probably close.
If a poor one eyed black American can convert and become the most popular Jew in the world, I guess people with Jewish ancestry can claim Israeli citizenship if they want and meet the requirement.
If thousands of people from all over the world can leave their homeland to take the right of return to their heartland every year It must have something to do with Jew-ism.
Tens of millions of white black brown and even some yellow people are Jews in the world and not Israeli. So some Israeli's are not Jews so what?
Not all of us came through Shem but if we didn't we came through a brother. We are all cousins.
We humans have passed through countless pagan religions but one has held true. While it may be surrounded by pagans at home there are still millions out there that will come to the aid of Israel if needed.
Don't count the Jews in Israel. Count the Jews in the world. Or count the stars. Whichever is easier for you.

Shay p

According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics population report for 24th April 2007, there are 5,415,000 Jews in Israel today. This is to some extent an underestimation, since those reporting 'no religion' are no longer included as Jews.

Mr Z

76% of israelis are jewish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Israel

Warren S

Joshua N's answer above is correct according to the latest census information.

shaanan

Beeing jewish is more than a faith, it is beeing part of a nation.
If you were born Jewish (acording to he Halcha, the jewish law- that means that your mother is jewish) you can not run away from it, no matter what religion you practice.
In Israel, 92 % of the population are Jewish according to the Halacha, that doesn't meant that it is the same percent that are absorvant Jews. There are lots of levels of absorvince in Israel, some are very orthodox and some are very secullar. Most of the Jewish population in Israel are in the middle, they do have a longing for traditon yet they do not want to be narrow minded. That is the reason that in yom Kipor the day of atonmant, everything in Israel stops, despite the fact that there is no law on that issue.

Rachel

i believe it's about two thirds
have you ever been to israel? you know how you can go to the grocery store, school, work, the movies, anywhere really, and you can just assume that almost every person around you is christian?
in israel you just know (nearly) everyone around you is jewish. every resteraunt is kosher, shops close on the sabbath, and you see judaica everywhere. i'm not discriminated against or anything in the US, but i have never felt more at home than in israel.

most israeli jews are either very religious or pretty secular... not much in between. but most have a strong jewish identity. even if they don't go to services every week or observe every holiday, being jewish is just part of the culture, which just isnt possible here.

Joshua N

Being Jewish is being born to a Jewish mother or converting to Judaism according to halaka. If this is a genuine question, then 76.4% of Israelis are Jewish. Out of those, 10% are Charedim, 10% Religious, 14% Religious-traditionalists, and 44% are secular.

Katy M

99%

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