Why has reverse Jewish immigration from Israel grown?

For more than seven decades, the Jewish Agency has boasted of its role in bringing Jews from around the world to historic Palestine, but the struggle for power in Israel and the ongoing protests against the government's plan to reform the judiciary have led to the Agency's concern about the popularity of reverse immigration of Jews, especially secular Jews.

In recent years, Israel has been witnessing an increasing trend for Israelis to move to the experience of life abroad, a trend that has turned with the assumption of the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, which relies on ultra-Orthodox parties, the religious current and the extreme right, into what has become known as "reverse Jewish immigration."

These concerns were illustrated by statements by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics regarding the reluctance of Jews from Europe, especially members of the French community, to come to the country.

According to the results of an opinion poll conducted by the official Israeli radio "Kan", more than 25% of adult Jews (over the age of 18) are seriously considering emigrating from Israel, while 6% have embarked on practical immigration procedures, due to the penetration of the influence of the ultra-Orthodox parties and the religious right-wing current into the joints of government, and reforms in the judicial system, which some of those surveyed see as a "coup against democracy and the system of government."

In 2022, 70,<> Jews were brought to historic Palestine, the vast majority from Russia and Ukraine (Reuters)

Transformations and repercussions

The poll, which included two thousand Jews, came against the backdrop of protests in Israel against the Netanyahu government's plan to reform the judiciary, and reflects the general mood in the Jewish community in light of the widening societal rift, and the features of religious coercion pushed by the Haredi parties.

The poll, led and compiled by pollster Camille Fox, estimates that hundreds of thousands of Jews will emigrate to Israel in the future, while many Jewish families advise their children to emigrate, obtain foreign passports or even take actual steps to emigrate.

Fox attributes this to the fear of large segments of Jewish society, especially secularists, about the repercussions of reforming the judiciary and its impact on democracy in Israel, and demographic and ideological shifts in the right-wing Jewish community and extreme religiosity.

Recruitment & Immigration

By the end of 2022, Israel's population reached 9.6 million and 656 thousand people, and the number of Jews 7.6 million, including 513 thousand people who immigrated to Israel, especially from the former Soviet Union countries under the "Law of Return" and are not Jews, while more than 2 million people are 48 Palestinians and residents of occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.

According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, the number of Jews who hold Israeli citizenship and immigrated from the country by the end of 2022 reached about 900,<>, although the census does not include their children who were born abroad.

The data showed that in 2022, 70,2000 Jews were brought to historic Palestine, the vast majority of them from Russia and Ukraine, the highest percentage of immigrants since the second intifada in 2021, noting that in 28, about <>,<> immigrants were brought in.

However, the worsening crisis of governance, deteriorating economic conditions and escalating security tensions with the Palestinians showed that more than two thousand Russian Jews who obtained Israeli citizenship returned to Moscow in the first year of Russia's war on Ukraine.

There was also a 20% increase in the number of Israeli applications for foreign citizenship, especially from Europe and America, and a 15% increase in Jewish applications to immigrate from Israel to the European Union, especially Portugal.

More than 25% of Jewish adults are considering emigrating from Israel (Reuters)

Judaism and democracy

Professor Yuval Harari, a lecturer at the Hebrew University's Faculty of History, attributed the rise of the reverse Jewish immigration phenomenon to the growing influence of the far-right religious current and ultra-Orthodox parties in Israeli society, their penetration into government ministries and their control over the reins of government in Israel.

Harari explained in a statement to Al Jazeera Net that reverse immigration has been one of the most prominent challenges and problems facing Israel since 1948, but in light of the societal, economic and judicial changes pushed by Netanyahu in recent years, the fore rethought immigration for demographic and ideological reasons.

The results of last November's Knesset and the rise of ultra-Orthodox parties pushing to transform Israel into a "biblical Sharia state" are believed to have been a turning point in the struggle not only for governance, but for Israel's identity as a Jewish and democratic state.

He pointed out that this struggle, which many Jews expressed by emigrating to Europe and America even before the official announcement of the formation of Netanyahu's government, is reflected at this stage in the unprecedented and continuous protests for the fourth month against the government's plan for reforms in the judiciary.

He explained that the widespread belief that what the government is doing is not a legal reform but rather a "coup and the establishment of the settler state," and therefore the thinking of immigration exists among Jews, "because of the conflict over the identity and democracy of Israel, which is moving towards dictatorship."

Secularists and religious people

For his part, Adam Clair, spokesman for the Peace Now bloc, believes that reverse migration in the past was for social and economic reasons, high unemployment rates, as well as difficult living conditions, compared to living in other countries, and lack of adaptation in the country.

On the recent growth of this phenomenon, Claire says, in a statement to Al Jazeera Net, "due to internal conflicts between Jews over the identity of Israel, as well as to reinforce fears and a sense of insecurity with the intensification of the conflict with the Palestinians and the blockage of the horizon for any future political settlement."

Claire explained that due to the blockage of the horizon regarding the stability of governance in Israel with the rise of the religious extreme right to power, and legislation to weaken the judiciary and undermine the foundations of democracy and replace them with dictatorial measures, the phenomenon of immigration is expanding among the younger generation, academics, those with educational qualifications and brains, and those with capital.

It is not excluded that the phenomenon of reverse immigration will expand, especially among Jews among the voters of the opposition parties and the Zionist left, whose presence has declined in the political scene, as well as among secular Jews, with the decline of freedoms, the strengthening of power over the economy and domination of society, in light of the loss of security and safety, and the escalation of security tension with the Palestinians.