Israel's Population Now at 9.2 Million

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Central Bureau of Statistics' annual report shows the country's population grew by 171,000 people over the past year, and is expected to pass 15 million when Israel turns 100 in 2048; 74% are Jews, 21% Arabs

From Ynet by Yaron Druckman 26-4-2020

Israel’s population has reached 9.2 million, the Central Bureau of Statistics said Sunday in its annual report published ahead of Independence Day.

According to the report, Israel’s population has grown by 171,000 people since Independence Day last year and is expected to reach 11.1 million in 2030.

By 2048, when Israel turns 100, the CBS forecasts a population of 15.2 million.

Some 74% of the population are Jews, 6.8 million, while 21% of the population are Arabs, approximately 1.93 million.

Another 454,000 people are non-Arab Christians, from minority religions and people listed as non-religious in the census. They account for the remaining 5%.

This number does not include some 164,000 foreign workers living in Israel.

Among the Jewish population, 78% are native-born, while 3.3 million people have immigrated to the country. Some 32,000 new migrants arrived in Israel over the past 2 years.

Since last year, 180,000 babies have been born, and 44,000 people passed away.

According to the data, 36.1% of Israel's population are below the age of 19, 31.6% are between the ages of 20-49 and 25.1% are over the age of 50, with 0.6% over the age of 90.

The main countries from which immigrants came this year were:

Russia (46.6%), Ukraine (18.8%),

US (7.7%) and France (6.9%).

about 4,600 – from America and Oceania (13.7%),

about 1,400 from Asia (4.1%) and

about 500 – from Africa (1.4%).

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PROTECTING THE ELDERLY

VIDEO Of The Week - How Israel Cares For Its Elderly - https://tinyurl.com/y9789ueg

  

21-4-2020, Editorial from  JP

It is widely recognized that the elderly are most at risk from the novel coronavirus, hence it makes sense to take special efforts to protect them, both for their own sakes and for the sake of the general public.
 

The nightmare scenario has always been that hospitals would be overwhelmed with people requiring ventilators and intensive care treatment and, as happened in Italy and Spain, for example, doctors would be forced to choose which patients to treat, often resulting in the oldest being left to die.
 

Israel, partly because of its relatively young demographic composition, has so far managed to avoid this terrible predicament. But the country is at risk of missing the bigger picture. In many cases, the elderly – not all of them much older than 65 – are being placed in an intolerable situation.
 

Following the relatively large number of deaths among residents of nursing homes, a very strict lockdown has been put in place at most facilities, with soldiers guarding the gates to monitor who enters and leaves. While the reasons for these precautions are clear – including to the residents – the results can be devastating.
 

In many cases, families that have been the major support of parents and grandparents suffering from cognitive impairment can no longer see their loved ones. Some of these elderly residents do not understand why this is happening. Particularly distressing was the report of the plan to remove Alzheimer’s sufferers, many of them Holocaust survivors, from their facility in Rishon Lezion, to prepare it to be used as an isolation center for corona patients if necessary. One set of patients should not be sacrificed for the sake of another. That is a basic precept of the Hippocratic oath.
 

The report over the weekend that patients from nursing homes were incorrectly diagnosed as suffering from COVID-19 and hospitalized in special wards also points to an extremely worrying chain of events.
 

The elderly everywhere are suffering from isolation and its devastating consequences. Those who are used to seeing children and grandchildren are being distanced, and those without close families are more alone and lonely than ever. Using platforms such as Zoom is not necessarily a viable alternative. The over-70s are not a homogeneous group; some are comfortable using social media, others are not, and still more might be able to use such media if someone is available to teach them.
 

Locking residents of retirement homes in their buildings – and in some cases in their rooms – is not a reasonable solution, certainly not in the long term. People need social, physical and mental activities in some form, be it in a central hall, respecting the two-meter distance regulation and wearing masks, or using a central courtyard that can be seen from balconies.
 

Not so long ago, the entire Western world followed with interest and empathy the fates of those passengers locked into cabins on cruise ships. Now, an entire segment of the population – a particularly vulnerable sector that often is without a voice – is undergoing something similar, unable to leave the confines of their rooms, with meals being left outside the door and without human contact. This is hard enough for a two-week quarantine, but it is not acceptable for a sustained period.
 

There has been a heartwarming effort to provide food and supplies to the suddenly confined needy but the time has come to think of how to relieve the stress and anxiety and feeling of abandonment.
 

There needs to be broad testing within retirement homes to monitor the situation and prevent these facilities frome accidentally becoming petri dishes of disease.
 

Last year, KAN 11 broadcast a touching series called 80 Plus Four, which documented the mutual benefits when a retirement home hosted a kindergarten for a few weeks. Obviously, now is not the time to introduce even low-risk kindergarten kids into retirement homes, but the authorities should now be thinking of the morning after for the country’s oldest age group.
 

Elderly people need a reason to get up in the morning, and to know that they have a tomorrow.

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How Israel Cares For Its Elderly

Through the years Israel has passed a number of laws designed to aid in care for the elderly and protection of their rights – at home, in hospitals and in various institutions for the elderly population.

Lake Kinneret Almost Full

VIDEO Of The Week-Sea Of Galilee (Kinneret) rising-https://tinyurl.com/yb3lzdl6

From the Algemeiner by Benjamin Kerstein

For The Full Article go to - https://tinyurl.com/ybea3fjl 

After an unusually wet winter, Israel’s northern lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is set to be full for the first time in decades, Israeli news website N12 reported on Sunday.

After a weekend of heavy rains, the Kinneret rose by six centimeters, bringing the water level to 209 meters, only 21 centimeters from the “red line” that marks its full capacity.

Two-thirds of Israeli territory is desert, and the country usually contends with a lack rather than a surplus of water, but the last two years have brought higher than average rainfall following several years of drought.

The Kinneret once served as Israel’s main source of fresh water, but due to the fluctuation, the country has mostly switched over to other water sources and desalination. Now, however, Israel’s Water Authority is once again permitting the use of the lake as a water source.

Dr. Amir Givati, director of flood modeling at the company ClimaCell, told N12, “In just two years, the Kinneret has risen by more than 5.5 meters. The Kinneret will continue to rise in the coming days and already by the beginning of May the level is expected to stabilize for the first time since February 1992 at the top of the red line, which means a full Kinneret.”

In order to prevent flooding, the authorities will likely use the Degania Dam to release excess water into the Jordan River should the Kinneret continue to rise. Built in 1931, the dam has only been opened twice in Israel’s history – in 1969 and 1992, the last time the Kinneret was full.

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IDF's elite Sayeret Matkal playing role in war against coronavirus

Video Of The Week- Corona Virus - Volunteers Help The Vulnerable - https://tinyurl.com/su4b8sh

  

IAI (Israel Aircraft Industry) and Invoytec to produce Israeli-developed ventilators in missile production plant.

From JPost, By ANNA AHRONHEIM   MARCH 31, 2020

For the full article go to - https://tinyurl.com/v27ke4g

The famed General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, or Unit 269, more commonly known as Sayeret Matkal, is helping with medical logistics in the IDF’s fight against the coronavirus, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Its commandos have been counting the number of respirators in hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout Israel. The elite unit is more accustomed to gathering field intelligence deep behind enemy lines, carrying out counter-terrorism operations and rescuing hostages. It is now playing a key role in the fight against COVID-19.

Health Ministry director-general Moshe Bar Siman Tov last week said Israel has 2,864 available ventilators, including some owned by the IDF. But some reports said the Health Ministry does not know the true number of ventilators in the country.

“The State of Israel must develop independent capabilities in everything related to dealing with the COVID-19 virus pandemic,” Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said Tuesday. “We cannot remain dependent on procurement from other countries. We must develop independent, advanced capabilities.”

Amid fears that the number of patients needing respiratory assistance may exceed the number of respirators available, the Defense Ministry, along with Israel Aerospace Industries and Invoytec, will also begin producing Israeli-developed ventilators.

“The Directorate of Production and Procurement (DOPP) and the Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) at the Defense Ministry, in collaboration with medical company Inovytec and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), have completed the establishment of a first-of-its-kind production line for Ventway Sparrow ventilators,” the ministry said in a statement.

The first 30 ventilators have been delivered to the Health Ministry.

With a lack of ventilators in Israel and around the world, Inovytec and IAI established a production line for ventilators within days. It was inaugurated on Tuesday at a classified IAI missile production site.

“The best minds in the field of missiles, aviation and space joined Inovytec, under the auspices of the defense and health ministries, and together we have established in just a few days an advanced production line for ventilators,” said Boaz Levy, general manager and executive vice president of IAI Systems, Missiles and Space Group.

The production line was built in a short time to expand the production of Ventway Sparrow machines, the ministry said.

“Turning a missile production line into a ventilator assembly plant is a very complex task,” DDR&D director Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Dani Gold said, adding that the ministry is “continuing in the race around the clock to translate the extraordinary tech capabilities of the defense establishment to the fight against corona.”

The Ventway Sparrow, which provides life-sustaining respiratory care for patients with COVID-19 in various conditions, is a state-of-the-art, turbine-powered, lightweight, easy-to-use ventilator that enables effective invasive and noninvasive mechanical ventilation for adults and children.

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