42 percent of Israeli Jews are secular: government

[oberliner]

JERUSALEM — Forty-two percent of Israeli Jews identify themselves as secular or non-religious, making them the largest segment of society, according to figures released by the government on Monday.

The Central Bureau of Statistics said another 25 percent identify themselves as "not very religious," 13 percent as "traditional," 12 percent as "religious" and eight percent as "ultra-Orthodox."

It said 72 percent of respondents had been to a synagogue in the past year, 82 percent celebrated the Passover holiday and 67 percent light candles for Hanukkah.

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[Ken Burch]

1. A fairly bleak thought, since religious Israelis are almost always sharply to the right

of non-religious ones(it would be different if the religious Israelis were religious in the Michael Lerner "Renewal" sense, but almost none of them are).

It's the religious ones that pushed for and continue to push for the anti-peace settlements.