One third of Israelis would leave if they could

Social protest demonstration  picture: Reuters
Social protest demonstration picture: Reuters

30% of respondents to a Channel 2 survey said they would emigrate if an opportunity arose.

In the past two weeks, since the end of Operation Protective Edge, leaving Israel has again become a main topic of discussion. Channel 2's Ulpan Shishi program commissioned a special survey to find out how many people are really considering emigration.

30%, almost one third, of the respondents said that they would seriously considering leaving Israel if an opportunity to do so arose. 56% said that they would not leave even if the opportunity presented itself.

As for the stigma that in the past attached to those who chose to leave the country, only 36% of respondents in the current survey said they viewed emigrants negatively. The rest said they viewed emigration positively, or that they were indifferent to other people's decisions to leave Israel.

"I came to the conclusion that I simply couldn't take it any more," explained Elad, who moved to Munich. "I can't explain it, but in Israel there's a feeling… I wouldn't say that there's no future, but that there's pressure, severe pressure all the time, wherever it comes from - rockets, taxes, the atmosphere in the streets, the overdraft at the bank. One day I just said to myself that I'd like something else."

Three years after the summer of social protest, that ended with yet another committee, these are the results: more and more people feeling hopeless about housing and disappointed by their earning power, at the age between university and starting a family, take out a foreign passport and leave for other options.

"I'm a social worker. I'm fed up of being financed by my parents at the age of 27, but it's not just that. I want to be a family and relationship therapist, and that's something that I will succeed in doing more quickly here, and, amazingly enough, for less money, than I could do in Israel," said Alon Aviram, who moved to London.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 7, 2014

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013

Social protest demonstration  picture: Reuters
Social protest demonstration picture: Reuters
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