So many songs or tunes are based on older folk songs, that I don't think it matters. Jerusalem of Gold is one of the very few modern Hebrew songs that can be considered a folk song , in my opinion. Or if not already so ,will become one.
Naomi Shemer was ill and dying when she finally admitted it- and considered, amidst her illness that she was being punished for appropriating the tune as hers. I too watched the item on the news, and found a close, but not exact similarity in the tunes.
BTW Allen- are you going to Jacob's Ladder?- PM me.
Jack The Lad