Jonathan did not want to leave Israel. When his wife first suggested moving abroad, he resisted. But after years of war, political turmoil, economic pressure and social tension, the Tel Aviv real-estate professional eventually concluded that remaining was no longer sustainable. In 2024, he moved to the United States with his family, becoming part of an increasingly significant wave of Israelis leaving the country.
According to figures cited in the Financial Times, about 150,000 Israelis have left over the past three years. Although that number is modest by international standards, the trend is highly unusual for Israel. Combined with declining immigration, it pushed the country into negative net migration in both 2023 and 2024 — something that had occurred only three times in the previous century.
The significance goes beyond population statistics. Israel was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust with immigration at the centre of its national identity. Between 1948 and 1960, immigration accounted for 65 per cent of population growth, while even before the pandemic it contributed close to one-fifth of population growth over two decades. Leaving Israel was consequently viewed for generations not simply as an economic or personal decision, but as a rejection of the country’s historic project.
That stigma has weakened, however, as political divisions, prolonged warfare and economic pressures have changed the calculations of many Israelis. The current wave began amid the domestic crisis triggered by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s attempt to overhaul the judiciary in 2023. It intensified dramatically after Hamas’s October 7 attack, when 14,000 Israelis reportedly left in a single month.
Researchers say the reasons for leaving are varied, but the political and security environment has become an increasingly important factor, particularly among secular and liberal Israelis. A survey of 71 Israelis who emigrated to the United States in 2024 and 2025 found that concerns about Israel’s social and political climate were especially prominent among those who had left during the recent period.
For some, the concern is not simply the immediate danger of war but what the conflict is doing to the country’s future. One Israeli who moved to Spain said she feared raising her children in a country increasingly influenced by religion and ultranationalism, while also questioning whether she could trust the political leadership under which her family might eventually serve in the military.
Economic considerations are also significant. Israel has long faced a high cost of living, while housing remains prohibitively expensive in major urban areas. Jonathan said that buying a reasonably sized apartment near Tel Aviv could cost close to $1mn, while within a year of moving to the United States, his family was able to purchase a home that would have been beyond their means in Israel.
The most serious concern, however, is that emigration may increasingly involve the people Israel can least afford to lose. A recent study by Israel’s tax authority found that affluent Israelis, including high-tech and healthcare workers, were leaving at almost twice the rate recorded in 2019 during 2023 and 2024. If that pattern continues, the resulting loss of tax revenue could reach $3.5bn annually within five years.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have likewise identified a growing net outflow among doctors, engineers and highly educated workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The implications are particularly important for Israel’s technology sector, which accounts for roughly one-fifth of economic output and half of exports and depends heavily on highly skilled labour.
The consequences could extend beyond the economy. Israel’s military relies heavily on national service and reservists, meaning a shrinking pool of productive working-age citizens could place additional pressure on those who remain. Longer reserve duty could, in turn, reduce economic activity among the remaining workforce while making ambitious increases in defence spending harder to finance.
Not everyone believes the current outflow constitutes an irreversible brain drain. Previous warnings about large-scale emigration of highly skilled Israelis proved overstated, and the number leaving declined during the first half of 2025. The government has also introduced tax incentives intended to encourage skilled Israelis abroad to return.
Yet researchers warn that the danger lies in the possibility that emigration becomes normalised. Once communities and professional networks become established abroad, leaving becomes easier for others, potentially creating a self-reinforcing cycle.
For Jonathan, the decision remains painful rather than ideological. He says his family could eventually return, but the greater sense of security and freedom from constantly seeking an air-raid shelter has transformed their quality of life.
His story captures the central dilemma facing Israel. A country built around the idea of bringing Jews home is now confronting the possibility that some of its most economically valuable citizens increasingly see their future elsewhere. Whether that remains a temporary response to an extraordinary period of war and political instability, or develops into a lasting demographic and economic shift, could become one of the most consequential questions facing Israel in the years ahead.
