Thousands of Jews have left Israel since the October 7 attacks

Shira Z. Carmel thinks it’s easier to leave Israel if you say it’s only for the moment. But she knows better.

For the Israeli-born singer and a growing number of relatively wealthy Israelis, the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack destroyed any sense of security and with it Israel’s founding promise: to be the world’s safe haven for Jews. That day, thousands of Hamas fighters breached the country’s border defenses, killing 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping 250 more into the Gaza Strip. The siege caught the Israeli army by surprise and stunned a nation that prides itself on its military strength. This time, during the so-called 9/11, the army didn’t come for hours.

Ten days later, a pregnant Carmel, her husband and their toddler boarded a flight to Australia, where a search was underway for people to practice her husband’s job. And they portrayed the declaration to friends and family as something other than permanent — “resettlement” is the easier term to swallow — fully aware of the familial burden and shame that shadows Israelis who leave for good.

“We told them we were going to be out of the firing line for a while,” Carmel said more than a year later from her family’s new home in Melbourne. “It wasn’t a difficult decision. But it was very difficult to talk to them about it. It was even hard to admit it to ourselves.”

According to government statistics and immigration statistics from destination countries such as Canada and Germany, thousands of Israelis have left the country since October 7, 2023. There are concerns that this will lead to a “brain drain” in sectors such as medicine and technology. According to Sergio DellaPergola, a statistician and professor emeritus at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, migration experts believe it is possible that the number of people leaving Israel will exceed the number of immigrants to Israel in 2024.

Thousands of Israelis have chosen to bear 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 carry.

Israel’s population continues to grow toward 10 million people. But it is possible that at the end of 2024 more Israelis will leave the country than enter. This despite the fact that Israel and Hezbollah have reached a fragile point Ceasefire on the border with Lebanon and Israel and Hamas are nearing a break in Gaza.

Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics estimated in September that 40,600 Israelis made long-term migration in the first seven months of 2024, a 59% increase compared to the same period last year when 25,500 people left the country. 2,200 more people left each month this year than in 2023, the office reported.

Israel’s Immigration and Reception Ministry, which does not deal with outbound travelers, said more than 33,000 people had moved to Israel since the start of the war, about the same as in previous years. The interior minister declined to comment for this story, a spokesman said.

Other evidence also points to a notable Israeli withdrawal since the October 7 attacks. Gil Fire, deputy director of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, said that some of his star specialists who have served as fellows in other countries for several years have wavered about returning.

“Before the war they always came back and staying was not really seen as an option. And during the war we started to notice a change,” he said. “They said to us, ‘We’ll stay another year, maybe two years, maybe longer.'”

Fire says it’s “a worrying enough problem” to schedule personal visits with these doctors and try to lure them back to Israel.

Michal Harel, who moved to Toronto with her husband in 2019, said that almost immediately after the attacks, the phone started ringing – with other Israelis seeking advice about moving to Canada. On Nov. 23, 2023, the couple set up a website to help Israelis move, which can cost at least 100,000 Israeli shekels, or about $28,000, Harel and other Israeli relocation experts said.

Not everyone in Israel can simply pack up and move abroad. Many of those who have moved have foreign passports, are employed by multinational corporations or can work remotely. People have even less choice in Gaza, where more than 45,000 people have been killed, according to local health authorities. Harel reported that the site received views from 100,000 unique visitors and 5,000 direct contacts in 2024 alone.

Aliya – the Hebrew term for immigration, literally the “ascension” of Jews to Israel – has always been part of the country’s plan. But “yerida” – the term used for leaving the country, literally the “descent” of Jews from Israel into the Diaspora – explicitly did not do this.

A sacred trust and social contract have taken root in Israeli society. The terms are – or were – like this: Israeli citizens would serve in the military and pay high taxes. In return, the army would ensure their security. In the meantime, it is the duty of every Jew to stay, work and fight for Israel’s survival.

“Emigration was a threat, especially in the early years when there were problems with nation-building,” said Ori Yehudai, a professor of Israel studies at Ohio State University and author of “Leaving Zion,” a history of Israeli emigration. “People still feel like 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 reform the legal system and was one of the first women to wear the blood-red “Handmaid’s Tale” robes that became a staple of the 2023 anti-government protests. She was terrified as a new and pregnant mother during the Hamas attack. That wasn’t the life she wanted.

Meanwhile, Australia beckoned. Carmel’s brother had lived there for two decades. Because of Carmel’s husband’s profession, the couple had the equivalent of a green card. Basic logic, she says, suggested a move. They were able to catch a free one-way flight within seven hours.

And yet Carmel remembers the hectic hours before departure, saying to her husband in the privacy of her bedroom: “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 would stay “for now.”

“We don’t define it as ‘forever,'” Carmel said Tuesday. “But we’ll definitely stick with it for the foreseeable future.”