Israel Celebrates Population Growth
A busy street in Zikhron Ya’akov, Israel (Source: Shalev Cohen/Unsplash)
Israel’s seventy-fourth Independence Day, celebrated from Wednesday night to Thursday night, is a time of celebration, growth, and looking forward. There will be lots of evening celebrations, flag-waving, BBQs, and a nation-wide airshow. The Israeli population has grown by 1.9 percent since last year. Roughly 191,000 babies have been born and 55,000 people have passed away. Israel’s population is 9,506,000. Around 7 million Israelis (73.9 percent of the population) are Jewish people. In addition, 2 million (21.1 percent) are Arab. Half a million (5 percent) are of other ethnicities.
Israel is set to surpass 11 million people by 2030. Israel is a very young country; 28 percent of the population is under the age of fourteen. This year also brought the highest number of Jews making aliyah (immigrating to Israel) in two decades—38,000. Of these immigrants, 9,000 were from Ukraine, 6,000 from Russia, and 400 from Belarus. Immigrants also came from countries like the United States, Canada, France, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, which have traditionally seen high numbers of people move to Israel. When the Jewish state was established in 1948, only 806,000 Jewish people lived there. Since then, 3.3 million people have immigrated to Israel, helping build and strengthen her.
Praise God for the growth and development Israel has made in the past seventy-four years!
Archaeologists Make Remarkable Discovery in Israel
Mount Ebal (Source: Someone35/Wikimedia Commons)
Archaeologists in Israel may have discovered the earliest proto-alphabetic Hebrew text. Researchers found a small, folded-lead tablet at Mount Ebal. Deuteronomy 11:29 refers to the site as a place of curses. This curse tablet allegedly includes the Hebrew word arur (cursed) as well as the first three letters of the name of God, YHWH. The archaeologists who found this artifact have dated it to around 1200 bce. If this estimate is accurate, it would prove the Israelites were literate when they entered the Promised Land.
The tiny tablet is less than one inch by one inch. It might be one of Israel’s greatest archeological finds and would be the first written use of the name of God in the Land of Israel. The artifact could demonstrate that the Israelites were literate several centuries earlier than most scholars have thought. This early literacy would prove that they could have written the Bible as the events recorded in it unfolded. The archeological world is still waiting for the researchers to publish their findings in a peer-reviewed journal.
Praise God for the discovery of artifacts that could support the Bible’s inerrancy!
Israel Closes Its Field Hospital in Ukraine
Ukrainian flag on display in Ukraine (Source: Artem Havryliuk/Unsplash)
After six weeks, Israel’s flagship field hospital, Kohav Meir (Shining Star), has closed. The sixty Israeli volunteer doctors and nurses have returned to Israel. The hospital operated about eighteen miles west of Lviv, even under threat of Russian missiles. Kohav Meir was part of Israel’s ongoing humanitarian aid to Ukraine. More than 6,000 patients received medical care at the facility. The hospital included an emergency ward, labor and delivery facilities, radiology, mental health services, a lab, a pharmacy, and an outpatient clinic.
The entire hospital spanned more than ten outdoor tents. Medical staff also used several classrooms. It cost 6.5 million dollars. Various Israeli governmental ministries, hospitals, and foundations subsidized the cost. Most of the patients were not wounded in the war but rather were civilians who have struggled to receive medical care. The war has hampered Ukraine’s ability to treat those needing medical care. Israel has chosen to deny Kyiv’s requests for military equipment due to a complicated relationship with Russia. Israel is trying to maintain ties with both countries to help negotiate peace.
Please pray that those who need medical care will find the resources to maintain their health.
Read more about Israel’s field hospital in Ukraine. . .
Read more about Israel’s hospital staff returning from Ukraine. . .