October 7 prompted some Jews to leave Israel. For others, the country offers shelter from rising global antisemitism
On November 22, 2023, Chantal and Nicky Young closed their front gates in London for the last time and flight to Israel.
Family members were waiting with a sign that said, “Welcome to grandmother and grandfather at home,” in their arrival in Tel Aviv. But a person who was not there was the youngest of his five children: Nathanel.
He was killed by 20 -year -old Hamas on 7 October. He did Aliiyah two years ago-translated into Jewish migration to Israel as “ascension .. – And the Israeli on the border of Gaza served with defense forces.
“Nathanel’s dream was to make Aliyah. He was looking for a property for us,” he said.
When Nathanel was killed, young people were planning their movements. 62 -year -old Chantal, who had dinner at a Jewish school before he migrated, said, “We were in shock.” “For a long time, I can’t say that my son passed away, ‘I can say’ went on a journey ‘, because it was very difficult to accept.”
Nathanel’s mourning parents decided to realize his dream by bringing the dates of movement forward despite the war.
Surrounded by Nicky and Chantal Young (Center) families. His youngest children were killed by Hamas on 7 October 2003. – Young family
Young people are among the thousands of Jewish people who have made Aliyah in two years since the attacks led by Hamas. Some were motivated by the need to stand in solidarity with Israel, and others were motivated by the desire to find shelters. rising antisemitism in their own countries.
But the flow is not just in one direction. As the Jews from all over the world moved to Israel, many Israelis left the country to settle in another place, and they could not live in an increasingly polarized society.
The conclusion, according to Sergio Dellapergola, a professor of demographic and Emeritus at the University of Hebrew in Jerusalem, spent his career to migrate to Israel and Israel, a wider vulnerability after the attacks of October 7, 2023.
“Israel has always been a country of immigration,” CNN said. In 2023, however, official statistics revealed that there was rarely “negative migration balance ,, and the country’s Central Statistical Bureau (CBS). Approximately 80,000 Israelis remained, that October calculated only 15,000. Approximately 25,000 people returned to Israel, while the country welcomed 30,000 new immigrations. The result said it was 25,000 clear deficit.
Although many do not appear, Israel is a small country with a general population of 7.2 million Jews, according to Dellapergola.
CBS published more data on Israel and Israel from Israel until September 2025, which painted a picture similar to 2024.
‘We think this is our country’
“The worst thing that could happen was already, so I’m not afraid, C Chantal said, almost two years ago, leaving life in England in a country in war. “Every country has problems and is not an excellent country, but we think it’s our country.”
65 -year -old Nicky, who worked in customer service for many years, admitted that he was “more anxious ,, but he added: ız We still have the support we have experienced as a mourning family in Israel and we are still reaching so far.”
24 -year -old Yocheved Ruttenberg lived in Texas and worked on construction sales when he heard the news of the attacks on October 7. He said to CNN, “I couldn’t process it.” “I must be in Israel.” I was like.
Two weeks later, for those affected by the attacks, he flew to Israel with 23 large Duffel materials, and was purchased with a friend’s funds.
Ruttenberg, who came to Israel in October 2023, came with Duffel bags full of goods donated for those affected by the attacks. – Yocheved Ruttenberg
“I called my job three days before my return flight and I quit,” he said. “I had a whole life in Texas, but I could not leave. I saw this great need to match voluntary opportunities with people around the world. Everyone wanted to help and nobody knew what to do.”
Today, Ruttenberg lives in Tel Aviv and conducts a successful organization with a community of 45,000 people who are interested in volunteering opportunities in Israel. He still returns to the United States, but he says he’s noticing a change in the mood there.
“I was very aware that the atmosphere has changed greatly from the flight,” he said. “I was wearing a great David star in my sweater, and suddenly I was aware that I was not besieged by people who supported Israel.”
‘Impossible’ political situation
For centuries, there are waves of Jewish migration, which is largely caused by persecution. Although the establishment of the Israeli State in 1948 was accepted as a end of the navigation, some now question whether the Jewish homeland is the best place for them.
In the last two years, thousands of Israelis have chosen to move to places where air strikes are sirens, terrorist attacks, compulsory military service and anti -government protests no longer in their daily lives.
However, although many Israeli immigrants have begun new lives in Cyprus, Canada and Thailand, according to Dellapergola’s analysis, very few are ready to speak publicly by expressing the fear of emotion against the media.
However, an exception was Noy Katsman, an internship in Leipzig, Germany when Hamas attacked. Among those killed were Hayim, the brother of Katsman, an academic and peace activist Katsman, who was killed in Kibbutz Holit near Gaza.
Hayim Katman (R) was killed by Hamas on 7 October. His brother Noy, who is depicted with their mothers on the left, now lives in Germany. – Noy Katman
The 29 -year -old Katsman, who is not without sagging, has now applied for citizenship in Germany – a country where his grandmother fled in the 1930s.
Katsman told CNN in his statement, “I didn’t want to leave, but there is more and more discrimination against the political situation impossible and leftists, activists and of course Palestinians,” he said.
Katsman, who spoke over the war in the international media, including CNN, said, “There were many articles that my brother was a peace activist, and then all the comments were very bad, saying he deserved and naive,” he said.
“It is clear that the Israeli state uses our grief to create more grief, and I don’t want it. I think it’s terrible. They want to have our narrative.”
However, they regularly visit Katsman and study for a master’s degree in cultural and gender studies at Israel’s Open University.
“If there was peace, I would come back tomorrow, Kat Katman said. “If there is an end to the conflict and people get justice and human rights, of course I would like to go back. I love the land, I love people, I love culture – but I don’t like the state.”
Safety Search in Israel
For others, seeing anti -Semitism in Europe and elsewhere, Israel feels like a safe shelter. 44 -year -old German Jewish journalist and writer Mirna Funk applied to make Aliyah with her daughter two months after October 7. He told CNN that he has warned about anti -Semitism in German media for a long time, but things worsened.
Um I was observing this change and I have been watching for about 10 years, so I realized what I witnessed immediately after October 7 and that things would get worse, ”he said.
Journalist and writer Mirna Funk moved to Israel with her daughter months after October 7, because she no longer feels safe in indigenous Germany. – Mirna Funk
“I was getting death threats at a weekly level and I didn’t feel safe.
While working in the German media, Funk now lives in Jaffa, a mixed Jewish and Arab population, and his daughter works in a “school of living together ğı where children from both pasts work with each other. “Life is much more free,” he said.
Speaking with CNN, the demography of the University of Hebrew Dellapergola stressed that the situation is “very complex, because Israel is shown by social divisions before 7 October, Great protests Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the right -wing and policies in the history of Israel.
Iz You need to look at a longer -term vision and understand the migration movements to Israel and Israel, ”he said.
“The general image is that Aliyah is basically an ideological choice – people who want to think about the future of their people, their religion and their children and the pressure of anti -Semitism.”
Although this is true in some cases, he said that his work has concluded that economic thoughts are often more important. “It has been shown that the dominant motor of migration to Israel is the economic situation in origin countries. If the situation in Israel is better, Israel is more attractive.
Yigal Palmor, the Head of International Relations at the Israeli Jewish Agency, which facilitates Aliyah, told CNN: “People have many motivations to come to Israel. Anti -anti -Semitism is one of them, but certainly not the only motivation.” Palmor confirmed the decline in Aliyah, but said he expected to be “more pronounced”.
“Many people are reluctant to come right now, but others feel the need to stand with us, to be Israelis and to contribute to the country when the most needed.”
Dellapergola sees the changing picture of migration as a part of a wider uncertainty felt by the Jewish people in the world.
“Everyone thinks that there is an unsatisfactory and frightening and a better pasture elsewhere, but that is not true. There is no reserve task in the west, no missiles, no alarm.
“The Jewish people feel very much lost.”
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