Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett urged Israeli citizens on Wednesday not to leave the country.
“Do not leave the country,” Bennett wrote in a post on the X platform.
Bennett said that Israel is going through the most difficult period since 1948.
“Shuffle in the war, international boycotts, damage to deterrence, 120 Israelis in captivity, thousands of bereaved families, abandoned Galilee, thousands of evacuees, ministers who only care about themselves, loss of control over the economy and the deficit,” he wrote.
However, the former Israeli prime minister stated that leaving the country is not a solution.
“We need all the talent and dedication of the people of Israel to get out of the hole,” he said.
More than Half a Million
More than half a million Israelis left the country and did not return during the first six months of war, the Times of Israel reported on Sunday, citing the Population and Immigration Authority.
According to the authority’s data, around 550,000 Israelis have left the country since October last year, which is more than the number who returned by Easter this year in April.
לא עוזבים את הארץ.
אתמול מהנדסת תוכנה מבריקה שאני מכיר סיפרה לי שהם עוזבים את ישראל למדינה באירופה לפני פתיחת שנת הלימודים הקרובה.
זה העציב אותי מאד.
נכון, אנחנו בתקופה הקשה ביותר מאז מלחמת העצמאות:
דשדוש במלחמה, חרמות בינלאומיות, פגיעה בהרתעה, 120 ישראלים בשבי, אלפי משפחות…— Naftali Bennett נפתלי בנט (@naftalibennett) June 26, 2024
The news website noted that what initially might have been a temporary escape during the war or due to technical difficulties in returning has now evolved into a permanent trend or migration.
Data from the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics showed that in April, Israel’s population was 9.9 million, including more than 2 million Palestinians, 400,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem, and 20,000 Syrians in the occupied Golan Heights.
Additionally, millions of Israelis hold dual citizenship, possessing at least one other nationality alongside their Israeli citizenship.
Ongoing Genocide
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 37,765 Palestinians have been killed, and 86,429 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(PC, AJA)
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