According to published estimates, the number of expatriates exceeds the number of repatriates by 5,000 people. So far, two periods of negative migration have been recorded in Israel's history – in 1974, immediately after the Yom Kippur War, and in 1983-1984, during the economic crisis and hyperinflation. «Let the last person leaving this country turn off the lights at the airport.» This cynical joke better than any research testified to the mood of Israelis who left the country in 1975-1985 to settle in Europe or the United States. At that time, Israel was experiencing a catastrophic economic situation, and the prospects for a peaceful settlement seemed even more illusory than today.
Almost 30 years later, new data have been published indicating a similar phenomenon. Yes, Israel currently has 7 million 150 thousand residents, and its population increased by 124 thousand people (1.8%) over the past year. But the phenomenon of «aliyah» (the return of Jews to the Holy Land) is in a state of free fall. In 2006, 19,267 «olim» (new arrivals) were registered in Israel. After 2005, when this figure was 21,168 people – the year was called «catastrophic.»
At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs records an increase in «yerida» (leaving the country). According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the number of departures by the end of this year will reach 20,000. On the contrary, the number of new repatriates will freeze at 14,000. Such a negative balance worries the Minister of Absorption Ze'ev Boim and the President of the Jewish Agency Ze'ev Belsky. As for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, he sees in this situation a «strategic threat to the existence of Israel.» «These figures are all the more alarming for Israel's future because we can no longer count on large waves like the one that came from the former USSR after 1990, and the birth rate in neighboring Arab countries and the Palestinian population in the territories is much higher than ours,» notes commentator Moti Kirchenbaum. «Thus, we are facing a huge problem. We will have to invent something to attract people.»
The phenomenon of «yerida» has been gaining momentum since the beginning of the Second Intifada (in September 2000). It mainly concerns people from the former Soviet Union. In December 2003, the economic supplement of the newspaper «Maariv» reported that 2,000-3,000 of them return to their republics every year. If this information is to be believed, enterprises located in Russia accelerated this process by publishing recruitment ads in Russian-language newspapers in Israel.
However, the desire to leave Israel also affects an increasing number of sabras, native-born Israelis, especially after the Olmert government came to power and the second war with Lebanon in the summer of last year. The results of a poll published by the newspaper «Yedioth Ahronoth» show that 25% of sabras thought about leaving in 2006. How many of them moved from words to action is not yet clear. In any case, the same data indicate that 50% of young people (aged 18 to 29) would like to start a new life in the USA, Canada, Australia, and to a lesser extent in Europe. Respondents expressed dissatisfaction with living conditions, methods of governing the country, the level of security, the quality of education, and public services. According to political scientist Aliza Shenhar, these figures are a «warning signal» for the country's leadership.
More and more Israelis are visiting the consulates of European countries, inquiring about the possibility of settling abroad and reclaiming the citizenship of their grandparents and great-grandparents who perished during the Holocaust. In Tel Aviv, many law firms specialize in filing applications with the consulates of Poland and Romania. Some decisively renounce their citizenship, becoming citizens of the country they move to. In 2005, there were 808 such people, mostly from former Soviet republics. In 2006 – only 775, but the Israeli Ministry of Internal Affairs acknowledged that these «yordim» are mostly young and «more educated» than the majority of residents.
Based on materials from
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