Citing data released by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Israeli news website Ynet reported on Monday that the trend of Israelis choosing to leave occupied Palestine has accelerated since the current coalition led by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to power.
According to the CBS statistics, 24,900 Israelis chose to leave in 2023, compared to 17,520 in previous years.
At the same time, the number of Israelis returning to the occupied territories after living abroad dropped by 7% compared to the past decade’s average of 12,214 with only 11,300 returning in the same timeframe of 2023, the report said.
“This creates a persistent and statistically significant disparity between emigrants and returnees, with the former exceeding the latter by a striking 44%, thereby underscoring a systemic issue within the migration patterns,” Ynet added.
Analysts attribute the trend to growing political polarization, economic instability, and most importantly, the Netanyahu regime’s failure to free Israeli captives held in the Gaza Strip despite a brutal war on the enclave.
Israel waged the war on Gaza in October last year with the professed goals of releasing the captives and eradicating the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. However, a year after the start of the war, the regime has failed to achieve any of its goals.
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