by Philip Weiss on March 5, 2010 ·
You may recall that Martin Kramer’s grotesque recommendation to limit Palestinian births arose from a theory that all the “superfluous sons” generated by a “youth bulge” in a population just create problems. Well Sean Lee has pointed out that the “youth bulge” is just as pronounced among the ultra-Orthodox in Israel, with their relentless propagation:
You may recall that Martin Kramer’s grotesque recommendation to limit Palestinian births arose from a theory that all the “superfluous sons” generated by a “youth bulge” in a population just create problems. Well Sean Lee has pointed out that the “youth bulge” is just as pronounced among the ultra-Orthodox in Israel, with their relentless propagation:
the group with the lowest median age in Jerusalem is not Arab or Muslim, but rather ultra-Orthodox Jews, at 18, compared to 17.2 in Gaza. They also have an average fertility rate of 7.7 children per family (down from 8.9), compared to the Gazan fertility rate of 5.03. I wonder, then, do [Gunnar] Heinsohn and Kramer see this as a problem? Would they qualify the young Hasedim as “superfluous sons,” or is that a distinction that is reserved for Arabs?
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