1/3 of Israeli Arabs considering emigrating – report

Polls show major shift in attitudes toward permanent emigration among Israeli Arabs, with as many as one in three considering leaving the country.

By World Israel News Staff

inal violence within Arab communities, and the high cost of living in Israel.

A growing number of Israeli Arabs are seriously considering permanently leaving the country, according to a recent report, marking a dramatic shift in attitudes toward emigration among Israel’s Arab minority.

A joint report recently published by the Arabic economic outlet Wasla and the Israeli investigative news organization Shomrim documented five middle-class Arab families that moved to the United States, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Italy and Cyprus.

The families said they were not primarily driven abroad by unemployment or poverty.

Several had established careers, owned homes or businesses and enjoyed relatively stable incomes before leaving.

Instead, they described a cumulative loss of security caused by the war and crime. Until recently, Israeli Arabs have been underrepresented in the ranks of Israelis moving abroad.

In 2023, Arab citizens accounted for only 6.2% of Israelis classified as long-term emigrants, substantially below their approximately 21% share of the population.

Recent surveys, however, indicate that the idea of leaving has become considerably more common.

“The Arab family in Israel is not, by nature, an emigrating family,” Dr. Nasreen Haj Yahya, a social researcher and family therapist, told Wasla.

Haj Yahya said that two-and-a-half years of war and growing violence in the Arab sector have caused a major shift in Israeli Arab attitudes toward emigration that economic factors alone could not.

“This is not a step that fits with the structure of the Arab family,” she said. “For a family like this to get up and leave, there have to be extreme factors.”

“The war created a tremendous amount of uncertainty, fear and a kind of hopelessness. Alongside that, violence within Arab society is no longer seen as something that harms only people involved in crime. It is also reaching innocent people and creating a sense of threat to their very existence.”

An Israel Democracy Institute study found that 30% of Arab respondents were considering moving abroad, compared with 26% of Jewish respondents.

Israeli Arabs were less likely than Jews to say they would consider leaving the country because they feel alienated from mainstream Israeli culture, with just 39% citing this as a reason for emigrating, compared to 48% of Israeli Jews who said they might emigrate.

Eighty-six percent of Israeli Arabs cited the cost of living, with 91% citing concerns over their children’s future.

Among Israeli Jews considering emigrating, 91% cited the high cost of living, with 85% citing concerns over their children’s future.

A separate Jewish People Policy Institute survey found that 36% of Arab Israelis said they would emigrate if they had a practical opportunity, compared with 24% of Jews.