( Middle East Monitor ) – The report by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics at the beginning of the new year, 2025, regarding the reverse immigration of Jews was like fuel poured on the fire of political conflicts in Israel, because the bleak number appearing in the headlines of the Israeli media represented the balance of reverse immigration of Jews outside the Occupation state. 82,000 were removed from the population figure, which was bad news for its political and security circles.
This shocking statistic immediately turned into a new political debate among Israelis, added to their series of endless debates, especially since the available data indicated that this immigration was concentrated on professionals, doctors and technicians due to their despair over the conditions of the state.
While right-wing supporters have exploited these shocking figures to criticise those who are migrating from the state, opponents of the government have used them to attack it. Between the two sides, the phenomenon of reverse migration has turned into another battlefront added to the seven-front war fought by the Occupying state, and evidence that life in it has become unbearable.
While Israelis appear in a hurry to disagree and differ about the accuracy of these figures, and to put the blame on each other, it is impossible to understand what is causing the sharp jump in this reverse migration, given the assertions of the Israelis who are migrating outside the state that they have lost hope in it.
At the same time, this data confirms that experts in the fields of technology, economics, medicine and culture are the main examples of those migrating from the state, because they are no longer able to find a place for themselves in a state that promotes laws limiting their personal freedom, stifle creativity and suppress their private property. It is worth noting that reverse migration of Jews began during the time of the protests that took place against the legal coup, with the Gaza war giving many of them the sense that it was time to leave.
Moreover, the unfair economic policy of the right-wing government, the Haredi’s opposition to compulsory military service, the threats against academic institutions, the attacks on the Supreme Court, the ongoing war in Gaza and the failure to return the kidnapped soldiers, have all restored the fears of Israelis, their lack of confidence in their state, and their fear that they will face more trouble and will not be able to return to it in the future.
Along with the media outlets that have reported the data on reverse Jewish immigration, in recent months, Israeli research centres have noticeably focused on the growing trend of educated young Jews leaving the country, which could harm its economy and social structure. Their motivation behind leaving includes political instability, the economic situation, the cost of living, social tensions and fears of a legal coup.
“Exodus,” Digital, ChatGPT, 2024
What truly worries Israel is the age of these immigrants, as 48 per cent of them are between 20 and 45 years old, and 27 per cent are children and adolescents. The vast majority are under 45 years old and are looking for a better quality of life, due to the deteriorating economic situation, the increasing cost of living and the difficulty of obtaining housing and employment, with a greater degree of inability to access good public services.
There is a prevalent belief among Israelis that the repercussions of this reverse migration on Israel will be major, while the right-wing government is content with attacking the phenomenon through “populist” posts on the Internet, without in-depth analysis, and without providing practical solutions. This is because, in practice, these immigrants have a decreased sense of belonging to the state and its culture, and their connection to it has declined, due to the shock of war, the loss of confidence in the leadership and the economic crisis.
The increasing number of Israelis who are reverse migrating from the Occupying state nowadays coincides with the wave of anti-Occupation sentiments and hatred that is raging in the world due to its crimes against the Palestinian people. Given the political and social division that the country is witnessing, the immediate result of this phenomenon is the radical step towards immigrants being separated from the country, family, friends and immediate surroundings and, in some cases, there is no way back.
In conclusion, the phenomenon of Jews’ reverse migration from Israel signifies a moral failure of the state, and an explicit declaration of its failure to strengthen the connection of Jews coming from all over the world to an Occupied land that is not their land. This is an expected result of the deepening social division in recent years, the prevalence of divisive and inflammatory rhetoric among them and the state’s permission allowing extremist fascist forces to drag the rest of the Israelis into dangerous internal conflicts that may destroy what remains of the state’s immunity.
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