Leaving Israel is easier, according to Shira Z. Carmel, saying that for now. But she knows better.
For a singer of Israeli descent and a growing number of relatively well-off Israelis October 7, 2023 Attack by Hamas destroyed any sense of security, and with it Israel's founding promise: to be a safe haven for Jews. That day, thousands of Hamas fighters breached the country's border defenses, killing 1,200 Israelis and dragging another 250 into Gaza in a siege that caught the Israeli army off guard and stunned a nation proud of its military prowess. This time, during what became known as Israel's 9/11, the army did not arrive for several hours.
Ten days later, a pregnant Carmel, her husband and their baby boarded a flight to Australia, which was looking for people by the husband's profession. And they explained to friends and family something other than permanent — “resettlement” is an easier term to swallow — acutely aware of the family tension and shame that clouded Israelis leaving for good.
“We told them we were going to be out of the line of fire for a while,” Carmel said more than a year later from her family's new home in Melbourne. “It was not a difficult decision. But it was very difficult to talk to them about it. It was even difficult to admit it to myself.”
Thousands of Israelis have left the country since October 7, 2023, according to government statistics and immigration data released by destination countries such as Canada and Germany. There are concerns about whether this will lead to a “brain drain” in sectors such as medicine and technology. Migration experts say the number of people leaving Israel could exceed the number of immigrants to Israel in 2024, according to Sergio Della Pergola, a statistician and professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Thousands of Israelis have chosen to pay the financial, emotional and social costs of moving since the Oct. 7 attack, according to government statistics and families who spoke to The Associated Press in recent months after emigrating to Canada, Spain and Australia.
Israel's population continues to grow to 10 million people. But it is possible that 2024 will end with more Israelis leaving the country than arriving. This is even when Israel and Hezbollah have reached the frail ceasefire on the border with Lebanon and Israel and Hamas are approaching a pause in Gaza.
Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics estimated in September that 40,600 Israelis left for the long term in the first seven months of 2024, a 59% increase over the same period a year earlier, when 25,500 left. This year, 2,200 more people left every month than in 2023, the bureau reported.
Israel's Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, which does not deal with people leaving, said more than 33,000 people have moved to Israel since the war began, about the same level as in previous years. The Home Secretary declined to comment for this story, a spokesman said.
Other clues also point to a noticeable exodus of Israelis after the October 7 attacks. Gil Fire, deputy director of Tel Aviv's Sourasky Medical Center, said that some of his star specialists, who had been working in other countries for several years, began to hesitate to return.
“Before the war, they always returned, and staying was not considered. And during the war, we began to see changes,” he said. “They told us, 'We're going to stay another year, maybe two years, maybe more.'
Agon says it is “a matter of concern” that he plans personal visits with these doctors to try to lure them back to Israel.
Michal Harel, who moved to Toronto with her husband in 2019, said the phone started ringing almost immediately after the attacks, with other Israelis seeking advice on moving to Canada. November 23, 2023 the couple set up a website to help Israelis navigate the move, which can cost at least 100,000 Israeli shekels, or about $28,000, said Harel and other Israeli relocation experts.
Not everyone in Israel can just pack up and move abroad. Many of those who have moved have foreign passports, work for multinational corporations or can work remotely. People in Gaza, where more than 45,000 people have died, according to local health officials, have even fewer choices. Harrell reported that in 2024 alone, the site saw 100,000 unique visitors and 5,000 direct contacts.
Aliyah – the Jewish term for immigration, literally the “ascension” of Jews to Israel – has always been part of the country's plan. But “erida” is the term used for leaving the country, literally the “descent” of Jews from Israel to the Diaspora, definitely not.
In Israeli society, sacred trust and social contract took root. The conditions read – or read – like this: Israeli citizens will serve in the army and pay high taxes. In return, the army would keep them safe. Meanwhile, every Jew is obliged to stay, work and fight for the survival of Israel.
“Emigration was a threat, especially in the early years (when) there were issues of nation-building,” said Ori Yehudai, professor of Israel studies at Ohio State University and author of “Leaving Zion,” a history of the Israeli emigration. . “People still feel they have to justify their decision to move.”
Shira Carmel says she has no doubts about her decision. She has long opposed the Netanyahu government's efforts to overhaul the legal system and was one of the first women to wear the blood-red “Handmaid's Tale” robes that became an integral part of the 2023 anti-government protests. She was horrified as a young mother and pregnant during the Hamas attack. This was not the life she wanted.
Meanwhile, Australia beckoned. Carmel's brother lived there for two decades. The couple had the equivalent of a green card because of Carmel's husband's profession. The main logic, according to her, was to move. They were able to catch the free flight in seven hours.
And yet Carmel recalls the frantic hours before the flight, when she said to her husband in the privacy of their bedroom, “Oh my God, are we really doing this?”
They decided not to decide. They packed lightly. But the weeks in Australia turned into months, and the couple decided to have the baby there. They told their families in Israel that they were staying “for now.”
“We're not defining it as 'forever,'” Carmel said Tuesday. “But we certainly will for the foreseeable future.”