Growing trend of “reverse migration” from occupied territories; Tel Aviv in crisis.
According to Al Jazeera, Michal Regev, a Zionist researcher, and analyst, in a report referring to the reverse migration from the occupied territories and the migration of prominent scientists and doctors from this regime over the past two years, stated that the reforms of the judicial system carried out by the Zionist regime’s cabinet and the war in the Gaza Strip have caused the brain drain to spread.
The Zionist organization “Science Abroad”, which outlined its mission 19 years ago to maintain contact with Zionist scientists and doctors outside the occupied territories and to try to return them to the occupied territories, continues to pursue its relationship with more than 11,000 Zionist scientists, researchers, and doctors in 30 countries around the world. These people manage 34 disciplines in all regions of the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, Australia, Switzerland and Austria.
The organization’s executive director added in an interview with the Marker newspaper that about 70 percent of Zionist scientists and researchers [who study outside the occupied territories] do not return, and two-thirds of the best Zionist elite reside in the countries where they study.
Two of the center’s researchers, Maian Gholbo and Leor Selok, announced in their study presented to the organization that about 31 percent of doctors who study outside the occupied territories do not return to the occupied territories. This figure among non-medical scientists exceeds 70 percent.
According to the report, judicial reforms and the war in Gaza have caused many of them to not return to the occupied territories, despite the great need for doctors in the occupied territories. In surveys, about 45 percent of scholars stated that the reforms of the judicial system prevented them from returning to the occupied territories, and 47 percent considered the Gaza war to be the reason for their decision to remain outside the occupied territories.
Ben David, director of the Shura Academy for Social and Economic Studies, said in an interview with Haaretz that during the 13 years before 2023, an average of 17,529 Zionists left the occupied territories annually, and an average of 12,214 returned. However, this figure changed after the judicial reforms, and during the nine months before the Gaza war, more than 24,900 Zionists left, and only 11,000 of them returned. Of course, he did not mention the statistics after the start of the Gaza war, which, of course, has a much greater gap than these figures.
According to surveys, there is a large gap between the views of scientists and researchers before leaving the occupied territories and after settling in other countries, and after residing in these countries, they are mostly discouraged from returning to the occupied territories.