So I was standing in the waves on a Tel Aviv beach early Shabbat morning on a visit this september and it came to me - after 50 years of dreaming and 10 years of dismay over what is happening in my country, "Vote with your feet, make a safe place for the kids", and so I decided - I'm making Aliya in June, this is the time, for exactly this reason.
You’re right about Muslim countries. The famous “Where are your Jews?” speech by Hillel Neuer comes to mind…That’s just not who we are. I believe Israel is one of the most diverse countries on the planet. I’ve served alongside Jews, Christians, Muslims, Bedouins, Druze, and atheists. Loved the debates and camaraderie. Wouldn’t change it for anything.
Your article is so accurate . It tells the story of so many of us. All of us who are the descendants of Holocaust survivors or those who fled from Arab countries post the establishment of the State of Israel have similar stories to tell. If there wasn’t a story, we would not be here.
Your article is also so depressing. Not because of the story you tell but because of the way you cast Israel, as the refuge of last resort. Unfortunately that is the way so many also see it. A place to run to only when things get so bad where we are that we have no choice.
I say that it is unfortunate because the opposite is true. Israel is where the future of Jewish history will be written. For those of who live here we know that it is THE place to be if you are Jewish. Like the moon is a pale reflection of the sun, Jewish life outside of Israel is a pale reflection of Jewish life here in Israel. Yes there are problems both internal and external but that comes with being a nation state. But the quality of Jewish life here is unsurpassed despite the problems. Here we are home.
That is why Jews should be flocking here. Because there is no place like home.
Thank you, @Ed Susman - please do browse the other articles, as I write about the memoir I’m currently finalizing. In it, the story of my family during Nazi occupation of Poland, through my father migrating to Israel, and my own childhood in the shadow of Intifadas and the Gulf War.
I have seen trouble coming for decades, and made a few trips abroad to investigate moving and getting second citizenship somewhere, a “plan B,” as it were. I’m sorry I didn’t actually do it, because now I can’t afford to. Then again, there would have been no social supports like I have here, without which I could not survive.
I have toyed with the idea of making aliyah for even longer, but I’m still stuck with the affordability issue. Israel has some subsidized housing for the poor elderly - but the waiting lists are literally *ten years* long.
I feel so stupid because I *knew* the day would come that people would really have to leave - and not just Jews - and then I didn’t act on it in time.
Thank God they’re not coming after Jews - yet - which is kind of novel, but history has shown that they will *always* get around to us sooner or later. Usually sooner, of course.
Yes, it’s bad, but with the Internet and how information flows, we have a much better chance of combatting (as a people, taking care of one another) this current rise of Antisemitism.
We are most assuredly going to slam these fuckers back, here in the USA. I am going nowhere and this place shall remain safe for my children and their children's children. The Jews are not leaving America.
Just curious - name the famous scientists and other academics that are leaving the US.
Last year more Jews left Israel than new ones coming in.
Times of Israel - 12/31/2025
"More than 69,000 Israelis left Israel in 2025, as population reached 10.18 million. According to government, the population grew just 1.1% in the shadow of war, an unusually low rate, as the country saw a net negative migration of 20,000 people."
People move, so what.
Are you implying people are leaving because of Trump or because the Democrats hate Israel and have embraced Islam? Or for better weather or economic reasons?
Politics aside (this isn't the place, in my opinion), yes, people move.
You cannot deny the fact that there is a migration of Jews back to Israel, from all over the globe. War was a MAJOR reason for this departure, coupled with the uncertainty it brings.
Doubt you'll see a negative trend in 2026 and beyond. Even the one mentioned (~20k negatively) is miniscule.
Which “scientists and academics” are leaving the USA? What is your dataset? If as you claim they are “leaving,” may I ask where are they going? And why in particular would they be leaving the stronghold of academic and scientific inquiry?
"The essence of Eretz Yisrael transcends mere geographical borders, or increasing the population, or building cities and expanding commerce. Even the establishment of autonomous Jewish rule is not enough. You could vanquish the Canaanites and populate the entire territory, and still not appreciate that the land is your heritage. The true identity of Eretz Yisrael lies in its role as the spiritual epicenter and sanctuary of Jewish existence, and that is something that can only ever exist in the heart of a Jew."
I’ve been born of Jewish lineage. My grandfather was a Jew. I never knew him. To my surprise I had genetic testing and it linked me to a Jewish family in Tennessee where my grandmother is from but from where she left as a single mother. Genetically I’m 25 percent Jewish according to a genetic service I used. I only found out about this ten years ago. I asked a Jewish rabbi what it meant and he said to me Hitler would have killed me. The gravity of that was like an avalanche. This article reminds me of a feeling I’ve felt since I was a child. I have never felt I belonged anywhere.
"Spain, 1492: Leave or convert. Germany, 1933: Leave before it gets worse. Poland, 1939: Just get out. Morocco, 1948: Leave while you still can. Not once has the world’s response been: How do we help them stay?"
Not going to let that pass. All immigrants had to make their way here, but America allowed for Jewish immigration and we did nothing as a government to do anything but help them stay.
We have evenly allowed Muslim immigration, so at least one country welcomed Jews and Jews know that. Some Americans may not like Jews but a lot of Americans don't like Muslims either.
What an extraordinary article !!!!!!....... soʻoooooo true !!!!!! .... After 2026 years, we are certainly done explaining the legitimacy of our beloved Israel, our sovereign nation of the Jewish people!!!!!!..... Am Israel Chai....
Amen. Mamdani the evil Twelver Shia scumbag terrorist can "just leave" and swiftly, please. He can take brother-marrying tax-thief fraudster Ilhan Omar with him.
"Israel is what happens when you run out of places to go."
This is an outrageously bad argument. There are dozens of countries where Jews can go (to borrow your phrasing). There are dozens of countries where Jews can be treated well. Israel is the home of the largest attack on Jews since WWII.
The underlying factual points being made here is a good one. There are just substantially better forms of this argument than the one you are putting forward.
October 7th was a catastrophic failure of government, intelligence, and military leadership. I've said that elsewhere in this thread. It doesn't disprove the underlying argument. It proves that democracies fail and recover. Israel is still standing. Still absorbing Jews. Still the only country constitutionally unwilling and incapable of expelling them.
On discrimination: yes, it exists everywhere, including Israel. Mizrahi Jews have faced it. Ethiopian Jews have faced it. That's real and worth acknowledging.
But discrimination inside a community is different from a country that can decide you don't belong at all. Every Jew, regardless of origin, has an unconditional legal right to return. That right doesn't exist anywhere else.
You're describing imperfection. I'm describing the alternative.
(1) "October 7th was a catastrophic failure of government, intelligence, and military leadership. I've said that elsewhere in this thread. It doesn't disprove the underlying argument. It proves that democracies fail and recover. Israel is still standing. Still absorbing Jews. Still the only country constitutionally unwilling and incapable of expelling them."
Thank you for admitting that safety isn't "if we have an ethnostate (through religion) then we will be safe." Everything you said here is demonstrating how "having a state for yourself" doesn't create actual safety.
(2) "On discrimination: yes, it exists everywhere, including Israel. Mizrahi Jews have faced it. Ethiopian Jews have faced it. That's real and worth acknowledging.
But discrimination inside a community is different from a country that can decide you don't belong at all. Every Jew, regardless of origin, has an unconditional legal right to return. That right doesn't exist anywhere else."
Thank you for acknowledging that Israel isn't a place that is safe for Jews. It is only safe for a specific subset of Jews. Quite a difference there.
Ethnostate? With 21% Arab citizens. Christians. Druze. Bedouins. All with equal rights under law.
Discrimination exists everywhere. I said that. It doesn't negate the core argument. It proves Israel is a state, not a utopia. No state is.
To leap from "discrimination exists" to "Israel isn't safe for Jews" is not an argument. It's a sentence hoping no one checks the distance between the two.
Every Jew on earth has an unconditional legal right to return to Israel. That right exists nowhere else. That is the point. That has always been the point.
(1) "No place is 100% safe. For any people. Ever."
Stop making arguments where you act as if there is a place that is 100% safe then. Especially when the facts are mostly on your side. There is no need to ruin "good" facts with your bad arguments.
(2) "Ethnostate? With 21% Arab citizens. Christians. Druze. Bedouins. All with equal rights under law."
(a) What do you think the definition of an ethnostate is? Hint: it isn't a synonym for genocide or ethnic cleansing.
(b) What percent of the South African population during Apartheid were white? What percent were black? The number of people that exist in a place has nothing to do with how the society operates.
(c) Oi vey. You don't even understand the basics of how systems work. You already agreed with me that Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews face discrimination in Israel even though there is no law that says Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews are to be discriminated against.
Ethnostates are a way that the society is structured. The law is only one part of that structure. You are engaging in the fallacy of composition. Fallacies are definitionally illogical. Illogical arguments are necessarily incorrect arguments, 100% of the time.
(3) "Every Jew on earth has an unconditional legal right to return to Israel. That right exists nowhere else. That is the point. That has always been the point."
You're right that Jews can live well in many countries. That's not the argument.
The argument is that everywhere else, that safety depends on someone else's tolerance. A government's mood. A majority's patience. A leader who hasn't turned (yet?)
Israel is the only place where Jewish safety is nobody's permission to grant or revoke.
I moved away. I live in North Carolina. But I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm borrowing stability from a country that could one day change its mind. Israel can't change its mind about me. It's constitutionally incapable of it.
That's not a fallback. That's the difference between a guest and someone who owns the house.
(1) "The argument is that everywhere else, that safety depends on someone else's tolerance."
Like I said in my initial comment that you are responding to, the largest attack on us Jews since WWII occurred... IN ISRAEL. Every single argument you make about other places is applicable to Israel too.
Because your understanding of safety is just not how safety actually works. Safety is always a multi-person endeavor.
(2) "I'm borrowing stability from a country that could one day change its mind. Israel can't change its mind about me. It's constitutionally incapable of it."
Today, in the Israel that actually exists out there in the world, non-Ashkenazi Jews are treated materially worse than Ashkenazi Jews.
Jews aren't a monolith. Even in Israel, we face discrimination. It is very similar to the Irish and Italians of previous generations in the "west." There are in groups and out groups everywhere. Artificial distinctions are drawn in all groups of people.
I started supporting Israel in 1967, before that I didn't know anything, when I was 15 after reading about the 6-Day War in my Dad's newspaper the "Washington Evening Star" and marveled at the sheer speed of their actions to victory. This caused my young mind to wonder why this war happened so I started looking at Israeli and Jewish history and later realized WHY Israel existed and has to fight so often. Now, because of having to defend themselves from their Arab neighbors so often Israel has become the biggest dog on the block militarily AND economically in the region. Long live Israel from this Catholic.
So I was standing in the waves on a Tel Aviv beach early Shabbat morning on a visit this september and it came to me - after 50 years of dreaming and 10 years of dismay over what is happening in my country, "Vote with your feet, make a safe place for the kids", and so I decided - I'm making Aliya in June, this is the time, for exactly this reason.
Happy for you! I miss Israel every day. Growing up there was the best.
When Muslim countries lost the war to Israel , they decided to expel Jews from their countries.
But Israel didn’t kick out their Muslim citizens. If they had , they wouldn’t be facing problems now.
You’re right about Muslim countries. The famous “Where are your Jews?” speech by Hillel Neuer comes to mind…That’s just not who we are. I believe Israel is one of the most diverse countries on the planet. I’ve served alongside Jews, Christians, Muslims, Bedouins, Druze, and atheists. Loved the debates and camaraderie. Wouldn’t change it for anything.
Your article is so accurate . It tells the story of so many of us. All of us who are the descendants of Holocaust survivors or those who fled from Arab countries post the establishment of the State of Israel have similar stories to tell. If there wasn’t a story, we would not be here.
Your article is also so depressing. Not because of the story you tell but because of the way you cast Israel, as the refuge of last resort. Unfortunately that is the way so many also see it. A place to run to only when things get so bad where we are that we have no choice.
I say that it is unfortunate because the opposite is true. Israel is where the future of Jewish history will be written. For those of who live here we know that it is THE place to be if you are Jewish. Like the moon is a pale reflection of the sun, Jewish life outside of Israel is a pale reflection of Jewish life here in Israel. Yes there are problems both internal and external but that comes with being a nation state. But the quality of Jewish life here is unsurpassed despite the problems. Here we are home.
That is why Jews should be flocking here. Because there is no place like home.
Thank you, @Ed Susman - please do browse the other articles, as I write about the memoir I’m currently finalizing. In it, the story of my family during Nazi occupation of Poland, through my father migrating to Israel, and my own childhood in the shadow of Intifadas and the Gulf War.
I have seen trouble coming for decades, and made a few trips abroad to investigate moving and getting second citizenship somewhere, a “plan B,” as it were. I’m sorry I didn’t actually do it, because now I can’t afford to. Then again, there would have been no social supports like I have here, without which I could not survive.
I have toyed with the idea of making aliyah for even longer, but I’m still stuck with the affordability issue. Israel has some subsidized housing for the poor elderly - but the waiting lists are literally *ten years* long.
I feel so stupid because I *knew* the day would come that people would really have to leave - and not just Jews - and then I didn’t act on it in time.
Thank God they’re not coming after Jews - yet - which is kind of novel, but history has shown that they will *always* get around to us sooner or later. Usually sooner, of course.
Don’t beat yourself up.
Yes, it’s bad, but with the Internet and how information flows, we have a much better chance of combatting (as a people, taking care of one another) this current rise of Antisemitism.
@Realistacular You know I always appreciate you!
We are most assuredly going to slam these fuckers back, here in the USA. I am going nowhere and this place shall remain safe for my children and their children's children. The Jews are not leaving America.
We are not going anywhere.
A lot of people, period, are leaving, especially scientists and other academics. Among them are lots of Jews.
Just curious - name the famous scientists and other academics that are leaving the US.
Last year more Jews left Israel than new ones coming in.
Times of Israel - 12/31/2025
"More than 69,000 Israelis left Israel in 2025, as population reached 10.18 million. According to government, the population grew just 1.1% in the shadow of war, an unusually low rate, as the country saw a net negative migration of 20,000 people."
People move, so what.
Are you implying people are leaving because of Trump or because the Democrats hate Israel and have embraced Islam? Or for better weather or economic reasons?
Politics aside (this isn't the place, in my opinion), yes, people move.
You cannot deny the fact that there is a migration of Jews back to Israel, from all over the globe. War was a MAJOR reason for this departure, coupled with the uncertainty it brings.
Doubt you'll see a negative trend in 2026 and beyond. Even the one mentioned (~20k negatively) is miniscule.
Which “scientists and academics” are leaving the USA? What is your dataset? If as you claim they are “leaving,” may I ask where are they going? And why in particular would they be leaving the stronghold of academic and scientific inquiry?
Wherever Jews are, Israel lives, I guess, but especially in Israel. Am Israel Chai!
Am Israel Chai!
"The essence of Eretz Yisrael transcends mere geographical borders, or increasing the population, or building cities and expanding commerce. Even the establishment of autonomous Jewish rule is not enough. You could vanquish the Canaanites and populate the entire territory, and still not appreciate that the land is your heritage. The true identity of Eretz Yisrael lies in its role as the spiritual epicenter and sanctuary of Jewish existence, and that is something that can only ever exist in the heart of a Jew."
https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/09/01/the-land-of-israel-defies-any-borders/
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Beautifully Written and 💯 % accurate
Thank you, @Ann Baker Ronn!
I’ve been born of Jewish lineage. My grandfather was a Jew. I never knew him. To my surprise I had genetic testing and it linked me to a Jewish family in Tennessee where my grandmother is from but from where she left as a single mother. Genetically I’m 25 percent Jewish according to a genetic service I used. I only found out about this ten years ago. I asked a Jewish rabbi what it meant and he said to me Hitler would have killed me. The gravity of that was like an avalanche. This article reminds me of a feeling I’ve felt since I was a child. I have never felt I belonged anywhere.
You'll always have a home with us Jews. I could think of 1,000 worse things...
Stay safe out there and thank you for sharing!
That makes my heart so very happy.
"Spain, 1492: Leave or convert. Germany, 1933: Leave before it gets worse. Poland, 1939: Just get out. Morocco, 1948: Leave while you still can. Not once has the world’s response been: How do we help them stay?"
Not going to let that pass. All immigrants had to make their way here, but America allowed for Jewish immigration and we did nothing as a government to do anything but help them stay.
We have evenly allowed Muslim immigration, so at least one country welcomed Jews and Jews know that. Some Americans may not like Jews but a lot of Americans don't like Muslims either.
What an extraordinary article !!!!!!....... soʻoooooo true !!!!!! .... After 2026 years, we are certainly done explaining the legitimacy of our beloved Israel, our sovereign nation of the Jewish people!!!!!!..... Am Israel Chai....
Thanks for reading!
Deuteronomy cpt 28 Leviticus cpt26 Jeremiah 29:7
Chazak v’Ematz! Be Brave. Be courageous. Great piece Ido!
Thank you so much for reading!
Amen. Mamdani the evil Twelver Shia scumbag terrorist can "just leave" and swiftly, please. He can take brother-marrying tax-thief fraudster Ilhan Omar with him.
Best comment of the day!!!
Enduring truths are like that! I am but The Messenger!
"Israel is what happens when you run out of places to go."
This is an outrageously bad argument. There are dozens of countries where Jews can go (to borrow your phrasing). There are dozens of countries where Jews can be treated well. Israel is the home of the largest attack on Jews since WWII.
The underlying factual points being made here is a good one. There are just substantially better forms of this argument than the one you are putting forward.
October 7th was a catastrophic failure of government, intelligence, and military leadership. I've said that elsewhere in this thread. It doesn't disprove the underlying argument. It proves that democracies fail and recover. Israel is still standing. Still absorbing Jews. Still the only country constitutionally unwilling and incapable of expelling them.
On discrimination: yes, it exists everywhere, including Israel. Mizrahi Jews have faced it. Ethiopian Jews have faced it. That's real and worth acknowledging.
But discrimination inside a community is different from a country that can decide you don't belong at all. Every Jew, regardless of origin, has an unconditional legal right to return. That right doesn't exist anywhere else.
You're describing imperfection. I'm describing the alternative.
(1) "October 7th was a catastrophic failure of government, intelligence, and military leadership. I've said that elsewhere in this thread. It doesn't disprove the underlying argument. It proves that democracies fail and recover. Israel is still standing. Still absorbing Jews. Still the only country constitutionally unwilling and incapable of expelling them."
Thank you for admitting that safety isn't "if we have an ethnostate (through religion) then we will be safe." Everything you said here is demonstrating how "having a state for yourself" doesn't create actual safety.
(2) "On discrimination: yes, it exists everywhere, including Israel. Mizrahi Jews have faced it. Ethiopian Jews have faced it. That's real and worth acknowledging.
But discrimination inside a community is different from a country that can decide you don't belong at all. Every Jew, regardless of origin, has an unconditional legal right to return. That right doesn't exist anywhere else."
Thank you for acknowledging that Israel isn't a place that is safe for Jews. It is only safe for a specific subset of Jews. Quite a difference there.
No place is 100% safe. For any people. Ever.
Ethnostate? With 21% Arab citizens. Christians. Druze. Bedouins. All with equal rights under law.
Discrimination exists everywhere. I said that. It doesn't negate the core argument. It proves Israel is a state, not a utopia. No state is.
To leap from "discrimination exists" to "Israel isn't safe for Jews" is not an argument. It's a sentence hoping no one checks the distance between the two.
Every Jew on earth has an unconditional legal right to return to Israel. That right exists nowhere else. That is the point. That has always been the point.
We're done here.
(1) "No place is 100% safe. For any people. Ever."
Stop making arguments where you act as if there is a place that is 100% safe then. Especially when the facts are mostly on your side. There is no need to ruin "good" facts with your bad arguments.
(2) "Ethnostate? With 21% Arab citizens. Christians. Druze. Bedouins. All with equal rights under law."
(a) What do you think the definition of an ethnostate is? Hint: it isn't a synonym for genocide or ethnic cleansing.
(b) What percent of the South African population during Apartheid were white? What percent were black? The number of people that exist in a place has nothing to do with how the society operates.
(c) Oi vey. You don't even understand the basics of how systems work. You already agreed with me that Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews face discrimination in Israel even though there is no law that says Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews are to be discriminated against.
Ethnostates are a way that the society is structured. The law is only one part of that structure. You are engaging in the fallacy of composition. Fallacies are definitionally illogical. Illogical arguments are necessarily incorrect arguments, 100% of the time.
(3) "Every Jew on earth has an unconditional legal right to return to Israel. That right exists nowhere else. That is the point. That has always been the point."
Sure. And that has nothing to do with safety.
You're right that Jews can live well in many countries. That's not the argument.
The argument is that everywhere else, that safety depends on someone else's tolerance. A government's mood. A majority's patience. A leader who hasn't turned (yet?)
Israel is the only place where Jewish safety is nobody's permission to grant or revoke.
I moved away. I live in North Carolina. But I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm borrowing stability from a country that could one day change its mind. Israel can't change its mind about me. It's constitutionally incapable of it.
That's not a fallback. That's the difference between a guest and someone who owns the house.
(1) "The argument is that everywhere else, that safety depends on someone else's tolerance."
Like I said in my initial comment that you are responding to, the largest attack on us Jews since WWII occurred... IN ISRAEL. Every single argument you make about other places is applicable to Israel too.
Because your understanding of safety is just not how safety actually works. Safety is always a multi-person endeavor.
(2) "I'm borrowing stability from a country that could one day change its mind. Israel can't change its mind about me. It's constitutionally incapable of it."
Today, in the Israel that actually exists out there in the world, non-Ashkenazi Jews are treated materially worse than Ashkenazi Jews.
Jews aren't a monolith. Even in Israel, we face discrimination. It is very similar to the Irish and Italians of previous generations in the "west." There are in groups and out groups everywhere. Artificial distinctions are drawn in all groups of people.
No country, no society, is immune from this.
I started supporting Israel in 1967, before that I didn't know anything, when I was 15 after reading about the 6-Day War in my Dad's newspaper the "Washington Evening Star" and marveled at the sheer speed of their actions to victory. This caused my young mind to wonder why this war happened so I started looking at Israeli and Jewish history and later realized WHY Israel existed and has to fight so often. Now, because of having to defend themselves from their Arab neighbors so often Israel has become the biggest dog on the block militarily AND economically in the region. Long live Israel from this Catholic.
So inspiring. " It's our land. We are done explaining "