Israelis moving to live in Europe ‘rejuvenating' Jewish communities

The Guardian

17-03-2025

Israelis making a new home in Europe have become vital to previously declining Jewish communities on the continent, boosting numbers, bringing a range of cultural influences and marking a fundamental change in the relationship between the diaspora and the Jewish state, research has revealed.
A report released on Wednesday by the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research will detail for the first time a dramatic reversal of decades of net outflow to Israel from Jewish communities in Europe.
'We can say that culturally and demographically there is a real turning point. Possibly the end of an era,' said Dr Daniel Staetsky, the report's author. 'The founders of the state of Israel would never have imagined that it would be Israel that would be rejuvenating European Jewish communities, not the other way around.'
Recent Israeli government statistics show accelerating emigration from Israel, driven by factors including political polarisation, the high cost of living, the impact of wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and security concerns after the bloody Hamas raid into Israel of October 2023 and Iranian attacks.
The biggest destination remains the US but many of Europe's Jewish communities have also received a significant demographic boost, with some that have been shrinking for decades due to an elderly population and a low birthrate now growing again.
Researchers at the IJPR found about 630,000 Jewish people born in Israel or who had lived there for a significant time are now living elsewhere in the world. There are also about 330,000 people born overseas to one or two parents who are Israeli nationals whom the report described as 'Israel-connected'.
The researchers used new government statistics to establish a definitive figure for Germany's Israeli and Israeli-connected Jewish population after decades of only rough estimates. At 24,000 this was higher than previously thought, making the Israeli-connected community in Germany the biggest in Europe.
Nearly half of the Jewish population in Norway was Israel-connected, the report said, as well as 41% in Finland, and more than 20% of Jewish communities in Bulgaria, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Jonathan Boyd, the JPR's director, said the new arrivals were having a big impact. 'In the UK there are about 23,000 Israel-born people. That's close to twice as many as 20 years ago but among a total Jewish population of an estimated 313,000. In the smaller countries such as the Netherlands the influx can have a much bigger impact. In Norway or Finland it only takes a few to settle to make a big difference.'
'Wherever they go Israelis bring something with them. They bring aspects of day-to-day Israeli culture into these countries.'
The use of Hebrew and Israeli names for children has become more widespread in many Jewish communities in Europe and cuisine based on eastern European traditions is being replaced by contemporary Israeli cooking in some places.
Close to 12,000 people from Israel and their children now live in the Netherlands.
'There are a lot of Israelis here now and that is changing the composition of the Jewish community,' said Asjer Waterman, a strategic adviser at JMW, the national welfare organisation for the Dutch Jewish community. 'Of course they have a different identity and history to Dutch Jews.'
Itay Garmy, a councillor in Amsterdam born in the Netherlands whose father was Israeli, said the Israeli community in the city was often more secular than the historic Jewish community, which 'was already pretty secular'.
'Our connection with Israel is more based on culture than faith. It's more about music, food and love of Israel as a second home for Jewish people than religion,' said Garmy, 31.
Other Israeli immigrants have found a new interest in religion after moving overseas.
'Until a year ago I regarded myself as Israeli but recently I am feeling more my Jewish identity,' said Avisar Lev, who moved to Berlin from Tel Aviv in 2012.
Lev said he had not personally experienced any antisemitism, which EU data suggests has risen sharply in recent years, and is widely reported in Israel.
Many of the arrivals from Israel are well educated, relatively young and have children in their new homes.
Official statistics in Israel show that emigration from Israel was nearly 83,000 in 2024, more than double the number between 2009 and 2021, and higher than 2022. Population growth was down from 1.6% to 1.1%, even though about 33,000 people arrived from other countries and 23,000 Israelis returned.
A parliamentary committee last month attributed the decline to 'a significant increase in negative migration amid the complex security situation', and called for a reform of lengthy and bureaucratic immigration processes.
The emigration hasprompted concern in the Israeli media. A recent editorial in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily newspaper was entitled 'It's no wonder people are leaving Israel'. Others have warned of a 'brain drain'.
Last year, Prof Aaron Ciechanover, one of Israel's leading scientists, blamed efforts by the current government to introduce controversial judicial changes for the rise in departures. Those leaving 'want to live in a free, liberal-democratic country, and not in a country where the government is forcibly taking power,' Ciechanover said.
The IJPR report was about the impact on Jewish communities of the new migration and therefore focused on Jewish Israelis, not Palestinian Israelis.