\The number of Israelis that left the country since 7 October, 2023 topped the one million mark according to the Yedioth Ahronoth.
The Hebrew daily stated recently Israelis are leaving to other countries because of what they term as increased threats, continuation of the war on Gaza, decline in the standard of living, and the worsening internal division inside Israel.
“Not staying here’
Yedioth Ahronoth added “these reasons prompted many Israelis to think again about staying in Israel and fear for their future.”
The newspaper pointed out that figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics show there is a 20 percent increase in the number of immigrants compared to last year. This is in addition to the phenomenon that Israelis have been establishing gatherings of Israelis abroad in the past two years.
Statistical reports are also showing there is an exacerbation of reverse migration from Israel since the outbreak of the war on Gaza, noting of the establishment of movements and associations with the slogan of “Let’s leave together” that attracted tens of thousands of Israelis to join.
The situation has become so bad, that former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett earlier called on Jews not to leave Israel, and said the consequences of this migration is fearful, stressing Israel is going through the most difficult period since its establishment, with the confusion of war, international boycott, damage to deterrence, the remaining 120 captive Israelis, thousands of bereaved families, thousands of displaced persons, and the loss of control over the economy.
“All of this is completely true, but one thing that worries me, and that is talk about leaving the country,” Bennett said.
40% Poll
A recent poll revealed 40 percent of Israelis say they are thinking about leaving and returning to where they came from because of the economic situation in the country, the inequality, and disappointments due to the failure of reaching a peace settlement with the Palestinians.
In the same context, according to a study by the Begin Heritage Center, 59 percent of Jews in Israel approached or are thinking about approaching foreign embassies to inquire and submit applications for foreign citizenship, while 78 percent of Jewish families expressed support for their young sons to travel abroad.
Amid growing concern among Israelis about mass immigration, right-wing writer Kalman Libeskind said in an article in the Hebrew Maariv newspaper: We are facing a growing phenomenon in Israeli society, of a growing class in the Israeli left, that is distancing itself from Zionism and Israel, declining interest in the Jewish state and is conducting an active, vigilant discourse against the entire Zionist project while calling for a re-reading of the Nakba, Palestinian state, and the reality of the 1948 and 1967 borders, he said.
“Most of these activists are involved in Israeli civil organizations that receive donations from foreign countries with the aim of tarnishing the reputation of the Israeli army and its soldiers. Now they have come to realize that the Israeli and Zionist group to which they belong to is fundamentally wrong, and they have begun to adopt slogans such as that of the Green Line separating Jews from Palestinians that is considered a symbol of separation between what is legitimate and illegitimate, and they have begun to make distinctions between the settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron and the city of Ramat Aviv in Tel Aviv, and believe the state’s efforts to maintain a Jewish majority in it is an undemocratic behavior,” the right-wing writer confirmed.
In a study published by the Israeli Ministry of Absorption, it was found a third of Jews in Israel now support the idea of immigration, especially after the Battle of the (Sword of Jerusalem) in May 2021. This was a date when Palestinian and Israeli statistics showed that the demographic balance between Israelis and Palestinians in historical Palestine was becoming closer at 6.9 million for the former, compared to 7.2 million for the latter.
According to figures from the Israeli Ministry of Absorption, 720,000 Jewish settlers have left Israel and settled abroad since the beginning of 2021, while the same year recorded a superiority in the balance of reverse migration for Jewish immigrants who had mainly come from abroad according to JO.24.
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