(Photo credit: Flash90/X)The Cradle
AUG 3, 2026
Security risks caused by retaliatory strikes on Israel, dissatisfaction with Netanyahu, and a ravaged economy have contributed to the spike
The record-high levels of Israeli citizens emigrating from Israel remained the same and did not slow down throughout all of 2025, according to a 3 August study released by Tel Aviv University, which referred to the numbers as “deeply concerning.”
The new study has cited data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
According to the study, between 2023 and 2025, 268,509 Israelis fled Israel for trips lasting at least three months.
Over 90,900 Israelis remained outside Israel for three months straight or more.
That came after 91,499 Israelis emigrated for prolonged periods of time in 2024, as well as 86,509 in 2023.
Annual departures between 2010 and 2019 averaged approximately 60,000 per year. From 2013 to 2015, only 183,219 Israelis left for similar periods.
The study was carried out by Tel Aviv University’s Professor Itai Ater.
“In 2025, we continue to see deeply concerning numbers of Israelis leaving the country for a significant period of time, adding to the exodus seen in 2023 and 2024,” the professor is quoted as saying in his report.
“These figures on their own do not yet pose a threat to Israel’s resilience. However, looking ahead – and if there is no change – there is growing concern that emigration will escalate in a manner that endangers Israel’s security and economy,” Ater added.
The study expresses serious concern that this trend will continue to worsen, creating a “snowball” effect.
Since the start of the genocide in Gaza after Operation Al-Aqsa Flood in October 2023, Israel has been at war on multiple fronts.
Two years of genocide failed to destroy Hamas and its arms, as Tel Aviv’s initial goal had been.
The genocide, ethnic cleansing campaigns, and wars against Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, as well as brutal strikes on Yemen, have prompted devastating retaliatory action from the Axis of Resistance over the past three years.
Yemen’s blockade on Israeli shipping devastated the Israeli economy, imposing mass revenue losses and a shutdown of the southern port of Eilat.
Rocket, drone, and missile strikes, from both Hezbollah and Iran – including during this year’s latest round of fighting – have also impacted Israel’s economy.
At the start of the latest US-Israeli war, Hezbollah and Iran struck the Haifa Oil Refinery, setting the facility ablaze. According to Hebrew media, reconstruction and rehabilitation of the site will not be complete until 2028.
Israeli reserve forces are on the brink of collapse and are struggling to maintain the brutal and ongoing occupation in south Lebanon due to manpower and equipment shortages. Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s arsenal and fighting forces remain intact.
In the northern settlements, economy and infrastructure have been ravaged by three years of on-and-off Hezbollah operations. Tens of thousands of Israelis are still refusing to return.
Israelis have been highly dissatisfied with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition as well.
Failure to draft Ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva students into the military continues to deepen the political crisis between the opposition and Netanyahu’s coalition.
Corruption scandals, as well as Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial overhaul plans, also played a part in the growing dissatisfaction that has been driving the increasing emigration, which several other Israeli outlets have referred to as “concerning.”
By December 2025, over 69,000 Israelis had departed.
“Historically, much of Israel’s emigration has been framed around the pursuit of better economic opportunities … However, many of those leaving Israel now attribute their decisions to dissatisfaction with the government, specifically policy changes it seeks that critics say will undermine democracy, or Israel’s current security situation,” wrote the Times of Israel.
[…]
The Most Revolutionary Act 