P.s. on Israel as a Sanctuary State for Jews

Since yesterday, I came across a piece by retired US Foreign Service Office Christopher Datta in the mainstream journal American Diplomacy. [1] First, he includes the following data: There are 2,089,000 Palestinians in Israel, 7,427,000 Jews and 564,000 non-Arab Christian and others. With the annexation of the West Bank the Arab population grows to almost 5 million. If one includes Gaza, the Arab population almost equals the Jewish one. Further, the annual growth rate of Muslims is 2.0% and the Jewish rate is 1.8%.

Second, Smith has had recent conversations with West Bank settlers in which they told him that Palestinians in Israel should all be pushed into Jordan “or else kill them.” The settlers offered effusive praise for Barach Goldstein who, in 1994, attacked the Ibrahim Mosque in Hebron, killing 25, including children. The settlers said that Goldstein was their “hero” and they wanted to erect a shrine to him.

Finally, given the demographics, history of violence and hatred and total absence of “enlightened leadership” in both Israel and US, Datta predicts “one of the greatest catastrophes in human history.” In Datta’s view, Netanyahu’s policies have condemned the Jewish state to “eventual collapse…a trajectory that it cannot survive in the long run.”

[1] Christopher Datta, “Netanyahu and the End of the Jewish State,” American Diplomacy, May 2025. Datta errors in only blaming Netanyahu, he’s blind to the origins of Israel as colonial settler state and his primary concern is what his dismal projected future for Israel portends for US policy in West Asia.