Thousands of high-tech workers leave Israel
Around 8,300 high-tech professionals left Israel between the beginning of the war on Gaza in October 2023 and July 2024, Ynet news website reported.
The report said “the uncertainty stemming from the political and security conditions in Israel” is pushing high-tech workers to seek opportunities abroad.
The data revealed an average of monthly emigration of 826 high-tech workers during this period, compared to 571 workers between January 2023 and September 2023.
This sharp rise underscores the escalating anxiety within one of Israel’s most vital industries. Despite comprising less than eight percent of the workforce, high-tech professionals contributed 35 percent of income tax revenue in 2021, according to Israel’s Ministry of Finance.
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The political climate has also played a key role in the growing unrest among tech professionals. High-tech workers have taken an active part in the protests against the government’s controversial judicial overhaul.
“In a country where there will be no freedom, there will be no high-tech,” read a post shared on a high-tech protest group.
The emigration trend has not been limited high-tech workers. In 2024 alone, 1,700 millionairs left Israel, according to another report published on Ynet
It was recently reported that since the beginning of the war, more than 80,000 Israelis have emigrated, 40 percent of them young adults between aged 20 to 40.
Thousands queue for food donations ahead of passover
Many non-governmental organisations have been delivering food donations to those in need ahead of Passover.
Over the past week, footage showing thousands of people waiting in line for food aid in Rishon Lezion has received widespread media attention.
According to a report in Maariv newspaper, organisations that distribute food have noted a significant increase in the number of people applying for assistance.
Liat Almakias, a widow and mother of three from Afula in northern Israel, told Ynet, “The situation is getting more difficult by the day. Without help, I would not have been able to celebrate the holiday meal.”
“I live on a state allowance, and from that I pay rent and also have to support the household,” Almakias added.
Ilana, a mother of seven also from Afula, said, “I come here regularly to get help. These food baskets save me. Without this help, I wouldn’t have food at home.”
According to a report by Latet, a non-governmental organisation fighting poverty, more than 2.7 million people in Israel are living in poverty as of 2024, amounting to nearly 30 percent of the population.
Knesset member Naama Lazimi of the Labor Party, who shared the video from Rishon Lezion, blamed the government for the dire economic situation. Lazimi said the new budget approved by the government will lead to “decrees and cuts that will deepen the existing poverty and create new poverty.
“Food insecurity is the brutal expression of poverty, and you have to understand that you can’t be a solidarity society when that’s the reality,” Lazimi added.
Over 150,000 gun licences issued since start of Gaza war
Israel’s national security ministry, under Itamar Ben Gvir, has issued more than 150,000 new licenses to carry private firearms since the start of the war on Gaza, an investigation by Haaretz revealed.
According to the report, the licenses were distributed through an expedited process and without any police supervision.
More than 320,000 citizens currently hold a licence to carry a private firearm, compared to about 170,000 before the war that began in October 2023. This number does not include the tens of thousands of security guards who carry weapons as part of their duties.
Haaretz also reports a rise in the use of private weapons for criminal purposes, citing the lack of oversight in the distribution of firearms.
“[Weapons] were distributed in mass quantities, and since then there has been no control over it,” a senior police source told Haaretz.
The distribution of private weapons has been one of Ben Gvir’s central initiatives, a campaign he has labelled “arming Israel”. He recently announced another round of eased restrictions, following a series of similar moves since taking office.
“We are continuing the weapons reform with full force,” Ben Gvir wrote on his X account. “Today there is no longer a doubt – a weapon is life-saving.”
Last Friday, a man murdered his wife in Jerusalem using a firearm he had received in July 2023 during the far-right minister’s tenure. After the murder, he took his own life. Their 13-year-old son discovered both bodies at home.
A man close to the family attacked Ben Gvir in an interview with Army Radio: “It’s a shame that the police aren’t protecting us. Why does a person need [a gun] at home? He’s not a security man.”
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel told Haaretz that “under the cover of the war and the public’s insecurity, Ben Gvir’s long-standing vision of arming all Jewish citizens has been realised.”
“Now, less than two years into this reckless policy, we are already witnessing many cases of civilian weapons being used for crime, suicides, and threats,” the organisation added.
Hundreds of Israeli reservists fired over anti-war letter
More than 900 Israeli reserve and retired Air Force members have signed a letter calling for the release of Israeli captives, even at the cost of ending the war in Gaza. In response, Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and Air Force Commander Tomer Bar decided to dismiss the reservists.
Cabinet members supported the decision by Zamir and Bar, claiming that the letter amounted to a call for refusal to serve in the military.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu labelled the signatories “an extremist fringe group” working toward “one goal – the overthrow of the government”.
‘The chief of staff’s decision to dismiss the signatories of the Air Force letter is nothing but the beginning of a political purge in the ranks of the army’
– Yagil Levy, military affairs expert
Defence Minister Israel Katz accused them of “attempting to undermine the legitimacy of the just war led by the IDF in Gaza.”
However, the dismissals were widely criticised within Israel’s political system and media.
Yair Golan, leader of the left-wing Democrats Party, wrote on X: “The writers of the letter are the people. They represent the opinion of the majority of the people. The IDF is the people’s army. You can’t dismiss the people.”
Knesset Member Gilad Kariv, also from the Democrats Party, joined Golan in defending the letter’s signatories.
“We will not let the dismissal of soldiers and commanders in the reserves, just because of their call to end the war and return the captives, pass on the agenda,” Kariv said.
“If the Chief of Staff and the Air Force Commander carry out the threat of dismissal, we will demand clear answers from them about the discrimination, differentiation, and silencing.”
Writing in Haaretz, Yagil Levy, a social and military affairs expert from the Open University, argued that “the chief of staff’s decision to dismiss the signatories of the Air Force letter is nothing but the beginning of a political purge in the ranks of the army.”
“What Chief of Staff Zamir is demanding now is not only the execution of a mission, but political identification with it. This is a political purge in the style of the Turkish army, and it is not clear where it will stop.”
Following the announcement of the reservists’ dismissal, three similar letters were signed and published by hundreds of reservists from the Navy, the Intelligence Directorate, and combat units. The letters also called for an end to the war in order to secure the release of the captives.
Israeli officer kills Bedouin amid family dispute
Two young Palestinians from the Bedouin town of Arara in the Negev, in southern Israel, were killed by gunfire on Wednesday, amid a rise in murder rates among Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Haaretz reported that the incident began with a dispute between two families, during which a 25-year-old man was shot and killed by one of the parties involved.
Later, a 27-year-old man was shot dead by an Israeli police officer after he opened fire on them, according to the police.
The report said that police had begun operating in the town a few days earlier following clashes between the families, which had escalated into repeated shooting incidents.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir inspected the scene on Thursday. Commenting on the police shooting, he said, “That’s exactly what we want from our policemen, our officers, and our fighters – striving for contact.
“I say explicitly, this is the policy – sovereignty, governance. Whoever tries to harm you, it is very good to hit him back,” Ben Gvir told officers at the scene.
A resident of Ar’ara told Haaretz, “The police hurt him and ran away from here and let us deal with it without any assistance. We called them dozens of times, but no one responded, and they only said: ‘We are on the ground.’”
“There was a house with a baby that almost caught fire, and no one came in to help.”
Crime within Palestinian society in Israel has sharply increased in recent years, particularly since the current far-right government came to power in 2022.
Haaretz reported last month that 51 Palestinian citizens of Israel had been murdered since the beginning of the year, a number that has since risen to 59.
In 2024 alone, 230 Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed in criminal incidents, yet only 15 percent of these cases have been solved by police.
* Israeli press review is a digest of news reports not independently verified as accurate by Middle East Eye.
