Israeli concern over the consequences of the reverse Jewish migrations on the occupying state

Israeli circles continue to warn of the brain drain and the departure of young people from the country, which has filled the headlines recently, and indicates an increase in reverse migration, which has increased the voices demanding that the government and the Jewish Agency maintain contact with immigrants outside the country, and arouse their interest, from time to time, in returning, while providing them with job opportunities, and investing resources to attract the younger generation, for fear of the serious consequences of their failure to return.

Esther Luzzatto, head of the Israel for the Negev Association, confirmed that “over the past 150 years, since the beginning of the Zionist settlement in occupied Palestine, the phenomenon of immigration to it and its decline, currently called ‘reverse immigration’, has emerged, and the main motives for those who left the country were focused on economic, personal, professional and other reasons.”

“Today, another consideration is added to the Israeli immigrants, which is their disappointment with the Zionist project, as happened during the first and second immigrations in the early twentieth century. Then the phenomenon continued after the establishment of the occupation state, and its prominent features appeared in the sixties before the 1967 war, called the period of “frustrating stagnation,” when the state witnessed a wave of decline and reverse immigration, which was repeated after the 1973 war, due to the shock of the war, the loss of confidence in the leadership, and the economic crisis,” she added in an article published by Maariv newspaper, and translated by Arabi21.

“In the 1980s, high inflation pushed many Israelis to seek economic stability outside the country, and the First Lebanon War of 1982 pushed them into exile, especially among the social and cultural elite. In the 1990s, despite the large wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union to the occupying state, many Jews left for Canada and other places. During the Al-Aqsa Intifada in the early 21st century, and under its influence, the decline and reverse migration increased, which became a phenomenon accompanying the Jews and an integral part of Zionist history,” she noted.

She stressed that “there will always be costs and fluctuations in the scope of immigration to and from the occupying state, although its population today is witnessing a more stable growth, and the rate of natural increase and the volume of immigration to it, according to the number of immigrants, are among the highest rates in the world. By the end of 2024, its population was estimated at 10.027 million people, 76.9% Jews, 21% Palestinians, and 2.1% others.”

“Doctors and high-tech companies are saying, ‘Catch me,’ or they will leave the country, which makes the threats against them an ineffective weapon, despite their increase during the legal coup, and their transformation from implicit threats to explicit threats. Although we regret every Israeli who leaves the country, any of them may immigrate for economic, social or other reasons, without us turning this into a tool for threats and pressure,” she stressed.

She explained that “the focus of immigrants from the state on the categories of high-tech experts and medicine is unfortunate, because the occupying state has invested many enormous resources in developing this technological and medical infrastructure, which has made it one of the most advanced countries in the world in this regard, which raises a great deal of concern in the focus of immigrants on this specific category, as well as the case of intelligence officers who threatened that they would leave the army and leave the state if they were forced to move to the Negev after their military bases were moved to the south.”

“We must not reach a situation where Israelis who are dissatisfied with a certain policy or a government decision declare that they will leave the country, regardless of the argument they promote, because it does not hold up, including the high cost of living and salary conditions. Here, we can speak with great frankness that the decline of the Israeli economy is the reason behind the increase in reverse migration, even though it currently stands at many levels above Western economies, which suffer from a lack of growth engines, a lack of innovation, inflation, and migration that creates enormous economic pressures,” she stressed.

She pointed out that "the economic and livelihood pretexts promoted by those leaving the country to justify their migration contradict what the country has achieved over the past three decades, from raising its economy to the top of Western countries, and continuing its leadership in technological innovation and growth. Even in 2024, the year of war and global delegitimization, its situation was immeasurably better than that of leading Western countries in all economic indicators: GDP, per capita, growth, deficit, and debt ratio, which makes citing the economic reasons for reverse migration surprising."

She concluded by saying that “the Israelis’ thinking about reverse migration from the country these days, in light of the wave of hostility and hatred towards the country raging in the world, is unacceptable, despite the political and social division it is witnessing, especially since its immediate result is that it is a radical step towards the separation of the immigrants abroad from family, friends and immediate surroundings, and in some cases there is no way back.”

She added that "reverse migration or decline means educational and moral failure, and the response is to strengthen Jewish identity and connection to the land, learn lessons from the deepening social division in recent years, take measures to limit divisive and inflammatory rhetoric among Israelis, and not allow extremist forces to drag them into dangerous internal conflicts."

Arabic 21