There is hardly any long-standing ethos dear to the country and society that the current Israeli government has failed to damage or destroy. Recent data released by the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics reveals that since the current coalition government was formed three years ago, 200,000 people have left the country, with the number growing exponentially year on year. The Jewish state was formed to be a safe home for Jews and to enable modern Judaism to evolve and prosper. However, during Benjamin Netanyahu’s sixth government, Israel has become the least safe place for Jews, while ideologically regressive forces are in power which risk the entire Zionist project.
The figures reveal only part of the story. It is what motivates those who decide to leave that tells the whole story. To begin with, while Jews comprise around 75 percent of the population, more than 90 percent of those who leave are Jewish. The simple reality is that there are segments of the Jewish population that are in despair about almost every aspect of life in Israel and their prospects there. In a survey this month by the Israel Democracy Institute, both Jews and Arabs expressed pessimism about the future of the democratic system, national security, and the economy, and expressed fear over the lack of social cohesion, without which any society is in danger of disintegrating.
Migration from any country is inevitable for various reasons. But what Israel is now witnessing is more profound: For a significant proportion of society, life has become impossible to endure. They have concluded that the attack on the country’s values and democratic character, and the constant sense of insecurity, is by now irreversible, and this is a government that will only perpetuate war, and never seek to live in peace with its neighbors, especially the Palestinians.
Ironically, some members of the coalition government might see the departures as a benefit, since those leaving are less likely to vote for them in future elections, and thus help to consolidate their power and religious-nationalistic ideology. However, the people leaving happen to be the backbone of Israel’s society, economy, and security, and the fact that in growing numbers they are feeling the urge to emigrate is testimony not only to what hundreds of thousands of Israelis think of the destruction that Netanyahu and his coalition partners have sown, but also their skepticism that the situation can be easily fixed, even if a different government comes to power in the next election.
The decision by a growing number of people to take the challenging step of moving to another country, in many cases uprooting entire families with young children for the unknown, indicates a widespread malaise in some quarters of society. When Netanyahu and his partners won the previous election, those who voted for other parties did not question the legitimacy of the results or the right of the winners to govern.
Nevertheless, what they cannot tolerate is what has happened since then, which questions the legitimacy of this government’s remaining in power, and daily demonstrates its incompetence, sectarianism, lack of integrity, and insincerity.
The so-called reform of the judiciary was controversial from the start, and still only a minority in the country supports it. It has become apparent that this is not about improving the judicial branch of government. Instead, the objective has been to subordinate the judiciary to the will and whims of politicians; to get Netanyahu off the hook in his corruption trial; and, more generally, to give the executive branch unprecedented powers that will allow the government to operate without transparency or accountability. It is about legitimizing, normalizing, and perpetuating bad governance, and possibly the same governors, which the more progressive forces cannot tolerate.
If this was not enough already, it was the colossal failure on Oct. 7, 2023, of Israel’s leaders to defend its own citizens, resulting in a collective trauma and a deep sense of insecurity. If one of the main objectives of establishing a Jewish state was to ensure that it was a haven for Jewish people, on that day it failed in the most tragic circumstances, with the worst loss of Jewish lives in a single day since the Holocaust. By the time a ceasefire in the ensuing war was agreed, 2,000 Israelis had been killed.
Those who were called up for reserve service showed up immediately, only to be let down, after many hundreds of days of active service, by a government that for the sake of the survival of its coalition was perpetuating the exemption of the ultra-Orthodox from serving in the army when there was a huge shortage in soldiers. There is also a strong correlation between those who serve in the military, who happen to be those who on average contribute most to the economy, and those who are deciding to emigrate. Among them are those who feel that they are being treated like suckers and are, therefore, deciding to try their luck, and probably more importantly, find respect and serenity in another country.
In the past there was a sense of unity in the country, especially during war, but that has been lost in recent years, as those in power are grabbing for themselves whatever they can.
At the same time that the prime minister is being questioned in the witness box for allegedly receiving presents in the form of cigars and champagne as presents from “friends,” and one of his sons lives in Miami surrounded by bodyguards paid for by the taxpayer, many thousands of his age group have been fighting in Gaza or Lebanon. Some have seen their businesses collapse, while others have missed entire terms, if not years, of their studies at university, and families have faced the strain of a partner and a parent being away for long periods of time. It is so many of those among them who have decided to put all this behind them and live abroad.
And they have skills that are sought after abroad, whether they are, for instance, tech specialists, medical professionals, academics, or members of the business community. After all, every generation hopes that the one that follows will not have to be embroiled in a war, but today’s Israelis are finding that their hopes have been dashed. The progressive liberals have lost trust in their government; they no longer believe that Israel can fulfill the dream of being Jewish and democratic, and live in peace, and they are voting with their feet, buying one-way tickets out of the country.
BY: Writer Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House.
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect The Times Union‘ point of view
