BICOM

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin hosted a reception at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem for foreign ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps in honour of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

Rivlin said that he told UN Secretary General António Guterres a few weeks ago that “international cooperation and national patriotism do not contradict one another. No one understands this better than us Israelis. The State of Israel – where the Jewish nation fulfills its right to self-determination – was established with the strength, of wide international recognition at the UN”. He went on to say that as Israel approaches 70 years of independence it remains committed to cooperation, and that while Israel was a young state it had proven itself to be an important exporter in “agriculture, education, security, and innovation”.

Rivlin said that “when we learn from one another, when we work together, we can build a better future for our children and our grandchildren”.

He warned that “because the idea of the nation state is so important to international cooperation, we must all work together to stop the attacks on its legitimacy. Such actions and statements that we hear against Israel – denying our rights and threatening our existence – are unacceptable. They do not promote understanding or cooperation among nations. The fact that Iran continue to regain more and more legitimacy, while Iranian leadership continue to call for Israel’s destruction is unacceptable. This does not promote humanistic values”.

Ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the Central Bureau of Statistics announced that Israel’s population is now 8.743m people, an increase of 156,000 from the previous year at a growth of 1.8 per cent. Jews make up approximately three-quarters of the population, totalling 6.5m people, while 1.8m Arabs represent 2 per cent of the population. Other minorities such as Druze and non-Arab Christians represent 4.5 per cent of the population with 396,000 people.

Israel’s birth rate was 3.11, with 181,405 babies born this year. The birth rate is the highest in the OECD.