‘Entire emigration movement’: 200,000 Israeli settlers leave since 2023

The opposition chair at Knesset (Israeli parliament) has warned that the Israeli regime is facing an unprecedented wave of negative migration, with roughly 200,000 settlers having left the occupied territories since October 2023.

Yair Lapid made the remarks during a special Knesset debate, also attended by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Monday.

Citing official data, Lapid said the scale and profile of those leaving reflected a deepening crisis tied to the cost of living, governance, and trust in the Zionist regime’s future.

“The data from the central bureau of statistics has been released, and it has become apparent that for two years there has been a peak of negative migration,” he said. “Over the past three years, 200,000 have left.”

Lapid cited CBS figures showing that 69,300 settlers had left in the past year alone, identifying them as predominantly young, educated, working individuals, who paid taxes and were part of the military reserves.

According to the data, 875 physicians and 3,000 engineers had left the Israeli occupied territories last year. “That is the profile of those who are leaving,” the opposition chief said, describing them as the regime’s “backbone” and “the people who keep it alive.”

He described the phenomenon as “an entire emigration movement,” driven by despair, and cautioned that many have “stopped believing” in the illegal entity's future.

The official linked the rise in negative migration to the cost-of-living crisis, denouncing Netanyahu and his cabinet for neglecting everyday economic pressures, while continuing to allocate billions of shekels annually to draft exemptions and coalition funding.

“The cost of living is causing the collapse of an entire generation of Israelis,” he said, and argued that the cabinet has failed to address housing, education, and economic insecurity.

He also rapped the cabinet for advancing legislation related to military draft exemptions, while Israeli forces continued to be killed and wounded in wars.

Lapid’s remarks aligned with a recent report presented to the Knesset’s immigration and absorption committee, which documented a net loss of more than 125,000 Israeli settlers between early 2022 and August 2024.

According to figures compiled by the Knesset research and information center, some 59,400 Israeli settlers left in 2022, followed by a record 82,800 in 2023. In the first eight months of 2024, approximately 50,000 more departed.

The report described the period as the largest-ever loss of human capital in such a short timespan, with committee chairman MK Gilad Kariv characterizing the trend as “a tsunami of Israelis choosing to leave.”

The committee report noted that the increase in permanent departures coincided with the period of the genocide, which began on October 7, 2023 and continued until a fragile ceasefire was reached in early October.

The trend was reported to have persisted into 2025, according to the findings presented to lawmakers.

Study: 40% of Israeli settlers consider leaving the entity

A new study has revealed that 40% of Israelis are considering leaving the occupied territories.

Israel’s economic daily Calcalist offered a more sobering picture of the crisis, reporting Tuesday that the entity is facing a deepening brain drain as large numbers of highly skilled professionals, particularly from the high-tech sector, leave the occupied territories.

According to the newspaper, a “large portion” of the 69,000 Israeli settlers who emigrated in 2025 were employed in technology and advanced industries.

Calcalist said the scale and composition of the departures underscore an urgent challenge for the regime expected to take office after Israel’s 2026 elections.

“The first priority of the next government must be to stop the severe bleeding of negative migration from Israel,” the paper wrote.

Calcalist noted that there is no need to consult official statistics to understand that many of those leaving are high-tech workers, arguing that such professionals are more mobile than other settlers and can more easily find jobs abroad.

Senior executives across Israel’s technology sector told the newspaper that requests from employees to relocate overseas have surged since the start of the Zionist regime's political and legal turmoil, a trend that intensified further following the outbreak of war.

The paper cited Nadav Tzafrir, former commander of Israel’s elite military intelligence Unit 8200 and current chief executive of cybersecurity firm Check Point, who warned last week that the main threat facing Israel’s high-tech industry and broader economy is not artificial intelligence or technological disruption, but the emigration of skilled workers.

“The central danger to high-tech and the Israeli economy is simply the brain drain,” Tzafrir was quoted as saying.

High-tech plays a central role in Israel’s economy, accounting for a significant share of exports, tax revenues and private-sector wages.

Calcalist said that the departure of experienced professionals risks weakening the sector’s ability to generate new companies, train younger workers and sustain long-term growth.

The newspaper also pointed to broader economic effects, noting that capital generated by high-tech workers supports consumption, real estate and services, and helps revive sectors struggling with stagnation. A sustained outflow of talent, it warned, could undermine those spillover benefits.

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