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The week before Israel’s parliamentary elections, Amir, an Israeli technology freelancer, traveled to the Greek island of Evia to view properties for sale. Amir had planned to purchase a holiday home for himself and his wife. (He asked to be identified only by his first name to discuss private matters.) However, the property could become their permanent residence if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition stays in power after the Oct. 27 vote, he said.

“We’ve been talking about [leaving] for a long time,” Amir said. “Most people I know are waiting for the results of the elections to have that discussion on a more practical and serious level.”

The week before Israel’s parliamentary elections, Amir, an Israeli technology freelancer, traveled to the Greek island of Evia to view properties for sale. Amir had planned to purchase a holiday home for himself and his wife. (He asked to be identified only by his first name to discuss private matters.) However, the property could become their permanent residence if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition stays in power after the Oct. 27 vote, he said.

“We’ve been talking about [leaving] for a long time,” Amir said. “Most people I know are waiting for the results of the elections to have that discussion on a more practical and serious level.”

Nearly one-fifth of Israeli voters are considering emigrating because of the country’s security and social situation, according to an Oct. 4 survey from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Other polls from this past summer showed similar results. The recent survey found that Israelis are deeply uncertain about the country’s future, with fewer than one-quarter of residents believing their children will live in a better reality.

Israelis have expressed feeling increasingly unsafe since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and amid Israel’s wars with Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran. The cost of living has skyrocketed, with food prices increasing by 20 percent in the last four years. Israeli society is also deeply polarized, with the secular liberal and religious-nationalist factions at odds. Netanyahu’s critics fear that his coalition, if victorious, will advance policies that favor the religious nationalists at the expense of other Israelis.

The latest polls show that it is highly possible that neither Netanyahu’s coalition nor the main opposition bloc will secure a parliamentary majority in the elections, which would yield a hung parliament and set the stage for coalition negotiations. If those efforts to secure a majority ultimately failed, Netanyahu—Israel’s longest-serving prime minister—would stay on as caretaker until a new vote can be held.

If thousands of people decide to emigrate based on the election’s outcome and aftermath, Israel could lose highly skilled workers in key sectors who are sustaining the economy and tend to belong to the country’s more secular factions. Such departures would unsettle the political balance among the remaining population, which would in turn lead to weaker internal opposition.

Many........

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