Israeli Nobel Prize laureate warns, 'brain drain' is an existential threat

Oct 2023 saw 285% surge in Israeli emigration, with 12,300 departures over Oct 2022

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Israeli professor and Nobel Prize winner, Aaron Ciechanover - one of Israel’s leading scientists - recently warned that a potentially significant 'brain drain' of human talent could threaten Israel’s long-term viability as a modern and advanced country. Ciechanover (76) was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2004 and the Israel Prize in 2003.

Brain drain refers to the emigration of highly-skilled and educated individuals from their home country to other countries, often in search of better job opportunities, higher salaries, or more favorable living conditions. This phenomenon can lead to a shortage of skilled workers country of origin and potentially hinder its economic and social development.

In his warning during the “National Emergency Conference” on Sunday, Ciechanover emphasized that young, talented Israelis “want to live in a free, liberal-democratic country, and not in a country where the government is forcibly taking power…"

"These are the people who have decided that they can no longer live in this country,” he warned, referring to the controversial Israeli judicial system reform that divided Israeli society last year before the war in Gaza.

“There is a huge wave of departures from the country,” Ciechanover argued. “Most senior doctors are leaving the hospitals; universities are finding difficulties in recruiting faculty members in critical areas. This community is 'very narrow.'”

Ciechanover, a biologist and professor at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, addressed the conference attendees at Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the worst-hit communities in southern Israel during the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion and attack.

During his address to top Israeli businessmen and academics, he argued that “as soon as 30,000 of these people leave, we won’t have a country here,” implying that the State of Israel’s future depends on a relatively small number of professionals and scientists in key positions.

“These are people who leave the country because it’s not good for them… because of what was before the war,” he said in a reference to the judicial reform protesters.

The Hamas attack last October may have influenced the departure of Israelis to other nations permanently.

Some 12,300 Israelis left the country in October 2023 and have so far not returned to Israel. This constitutes a 285% increase in emigration compared to October 2022 when only 3,200 Israelis left the country.

Between November 2023 and March 2024, approximately 30,000 Israelis emigrated permanently, marking a 14% decrease from the same period in the previous year.

However, the data showed a 21% decrease in the number of Israelis who moved abroad and later decided to return to Israel during the same period, indicating that Israelis residing outside of Israel are currently less inclined to return.

The Nobel Prize winner also urged the Netanyahu-led government to do everything in its power to return the remaining Israeli hostages from Gaza to Israel or face a significant fracture in “the most basic contract between society and the government and IDF.”

Ciechanover said many Israelis “are silent and do not react” to problems that Israel is facing. He called on President Isaac Herzog to “get up and do something.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who made his 9th visit to Israel since Oct. 7 this week, told reporters on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted the U.S. mediated hostage release-ceasefire deal.

“In a very constructive meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu today, he confirmed to me that Israel accepts the bridging proposal — that he supports it,” Blinken stated. “It’s now incumbent on Hamas to do the same.”

However, the terrorist organization Hamas once again rejected the proposed deal and U.S. officials have warned that the hostage deal is “close to collapse.”