Nearly 270,000 Israelis left the country over the past three years, as researchers warn the trend could have long-term economic and security implications.
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Research
Aug 4th, 2026
Emigration from Israel Remains at Record Levels, New TAU Study Finds
- Social Sciences
A new study from Tel Aviv University presents the first available data on emigration from Israel in 2025, indicating that the increase in departures that began in 2023 has continued.
According to the study, 90,922 Israeli citizens left Israel for at least three consecutive months in 2025, compared with 91,499 in 2024 and 86,509 in 2023. Together, these three years represent the highest levels recorded during the study period. By comparison, 183,219 Israelis left the country for at least three consecutive months during the corresponding three-year period a decade earlier (2013–2015).
The study is based on data from the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). It was conducted by Prof. Itai Ater of the Coller School of Management and Head of the Economists for Democracy Forum, Prof. Nittai Bergman, Head of the School of Economics, and Doron Zamir, a doctoral student at the Coller School of Management, all at Tel Aviv University.
Number of Israelis leaving Israel for three consecutive months each year between 2009 and 2025
¹ To exclude immigrants who lived in Israel only briefly before leaving, Israelis are defined as Israeli citizens who had lived in Israel for at least three years prior to departure.
A New Measure for Tracking Emigration
The researchers explain that in their previous publication on emigration from Israel, released in February 2026, they relied on the standard measure of remaining outside Israel for 12 months or longer. Because official data based on that measure will only become available for 2025 at the beginning of 2027, the current study instead examines Israelis who remained abroad for at least three consecutive months.
According to the researchers:
"In our previous publications on emigration from Israel (February 2026), we relied on the standard measure: remaining outside of Israel for 12 months or longer. For 2025, such a measure will only become available at the beginning of 2027. Thus, to identify emigration trends now rather than wait until 2027, we present data on emigration from Israel based on a measure of leaving Israel for at least 3 months."
To evaluate whether this shorter measure provides a reliable indication of longer-term emigration, the researchers compared the number of Israelis who remained abroad for at least three consecutive months with those who stayed abroad for 12 months or longer.
Number of Israelis leaving Israel for at least three consecutive months and for a period of 12 months
The comparison revealed a very strong correlation (0.96) between the two measures. Based on this relationship, the researchers estimate that between 45,000 and 50,000 Israelis are likely to have remained abroad for 12 months or longer during 2025, assuming the historical relationship between the two measures continues to hold.
The researchers conclude that the wave of emigration that began in 2023 continued through 2025, remaining at historically high levels.
Prof. Ater says:
"In 2025 we continue to see very troubling numbers of Israelis leaving the country for a significant period of time, adding to the 2023-24 wave of emigration. Taken by themselves, these figures do not yet pose a risk to Israel's resilience. However, looking ahead—and unless there is a change—there is growing concern that rising emigration from Israel might jeopardize the country's future security and economy."
Why Monitor Emigration Trends?
The researchers note that emigration has long been part of Israel's public discourse, including debates surrounding "brain drain" and broader discussions about Israelis leaving the country. They write that public attention to the issue increased following the November 2022 elections, the debate surrounding the government's proposed judicial overhaul, and later intensified after the October 7 war.
According to the researchers, timely migration data are important for informing public policy and improving understanding of the phenomenon and its possible implications for Israel's economy and society.
They also note that despite the importance of the topic, public discussions often rely on delayed or incomplete data. To address this gap, the current study combines CBS migration records with additional information on emigrants' characteristics, including higher education data from the Council for Higher Education, professional licensing records from the Ministry of Health, and income and tax data from the Israel Tax Authority.
A Shift from Previous Migration Patterns
The researchers found that migration patterns changed significantly beginning in 2023.
After many years of relatively stable migration balances, nearly 270,000 Israelis left the country for at least three consecutive months between 2023 and 2025, averaging approximately 90,000 departures per year. During the decade between 2010 and 2019, the comparable annual figure was approximately 60,000.
The researchers also refer to findings from their previous publication, which identified increased emigration among physicians, PhD holders, engineers, and individuals with academic degrees and/or relatively high incomes.
International Context
The researchers emphasize that emigration of highly skilled populations is not unique to Israel. They cite countries including Greece, Hungary, Venezuela, Argentina, South Africa, and Lebanon as examples of nations that have experienced substantial emigration among highly educated or economically strong populations.
However, they argue that Israel's economy may be particularly sensitive to such trends because it relies heavily on high-quality human capital, especially in high-tech, advanced healthcare, academia, and other knowledge-intensive sectors.
According to the researchers, these sectors depend on relatively small numbers of highly trained professionals whose departure could have disproportionate economic consequences.
Looking Ahead
The researchers stress that current emigration levels do not, by themselves, constitute a threat to the Israeli economy.
Instead, they argue that the primary concern is the disruption of the long-standing migration balance and the possibility that emigration could continue to rise. They suggest that additional political, economic, or security-related shocks could encourage further departures, potentially creating a feedback effect in which rising emigration encourages additional people to leave.
According to the researchers, if emigration were to exceed a certain threshold, reversing the trend could become extremely difficult, with broader macroeconomic consequences.
Definition of an Emigrant (Three-Month Measure)
For the purposes of this study, an Israeli is defined as an emigrant if the following conditions are met:
- Remaining outside Israel for at least three consecutive months from the date of departure.
- For new immigrants: having lived in Israel for at least three years before departure, in addition to the first condition.
For comparison with the standard measure used in the researchers' previous publications, an additional criterion applies:
- Remaining outside Israel for more than 270 days during the first year following departure.
Research
Aug 4th, 2026
A Breakthrough in Light Control
New optical technology steers and reshapes light in less than one trillionth of a second
- Engineering
Light travels at extraordinary speed, yet the devices used to direct and manipulate it remain comparatively slow. What if light itself could be steered almost instantaneously—without moving mirrors, lenses, or mechanical components?
A new study published in Nature Nanotechnology brings that possibility closer to reality. Researchers have developed an ultra-thin optical surface capable of redirecting and reshaping a beam of light in just 74 femtoseconds—less than one tenth of a trillionth of a second.
The research was carried out at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in the group of Prof. Harry Atwater. It was led by Dr. Claudio Hail, now a faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley, and co-authored by Dr. Lior Michaeli, head of the Meta-Optomechanics Laboratory at Tel Aviv University's Fleischman Faculty of Engineering.
An Ultra-Thin Surface That Reprograms Light
At the heart of the breakthrough is a metasurface—an ultra-thin layer patterned with tiny silicon structures, each smaller than the wavelength of light. When the surface is illuminated by a short laser pulse, the optical properties of the silicon change for an extremely brief time. The carefully designed nanostructure amplifies this normally weak effect, allowing another beam of light to be controlled without moving mirrors, lenses, or other mechanical components.
In laboratory experiments, the researchers steered the beam by angles of up to 13 degrees in either direction. By changing the spatial pattern of the illuminating pulse, they were also able to reshape the beam and create different light patterns. In other words, the same device can perform different optical functions depending on how it is illuminated.
"The key idea was to create a metasurface whose optical response is not fixed once it is fabricated," says Dr. Hail. "By changing the illumination pattern, we can reconfigure how the device steers and shapes light, and do so on an ultrafast timescale."
Prof. Atwater explains: "Light usually interacts only weakly with matter, so controlling one beam of light with another is extremely challenging. The metasurface enhances that interaction, allowing a very small and very fast material response to produce a useful change in the outgoing beam."
Dr. Claudio Hail, Dr. Lior Michaeli, and Prof. Harry Atwater
Turning a Longstanding Idea into Reality
"For me, the most exciting aspect is seeing an idea that had been with us for years become an experimental reality," says Dr. Michaeli. "The ultrafast effect we wanted to use is naturally very weak. We had to design the metasurface so that it would amplify the effect enough not only to measure it, but to use it to steer and shape light."
The measured switching time was close to the duration of the laser pulse itself, suggesting that even faster operation may be possible with shorter pulses. The device also has no moving parts and returns rapidly to its original state once the pulse has passed.
Illustration: A photonic chip for processing information using light
Towards Faster Optical Technologies
Today, many communication and computing systems convert information carried by light into an electrical signal for processing and then convert it back into light. Direct, programmable control at such high speeds could eventually allow some operations to be performed optically, reducing reliance on repeated optical-electrical conversion.
Dr. Michaeli adds: "This work points to a broader opportunity: using engineered structures to strengthen interactions between light and matter and turn them into tools for control, sensing, and information processing. This is closely connected to research directions we are now pursuing at Tel Aviv University."
The researchers emphasize that the work is a fundamental demonstration rather than a product ready for practical use. Nevertheless, it opens new possibilities for ultra-fast, reconfigurable optical devices in which light not only carries information, but can also help control and process it.
Research
Jul 29th, 2026
Experimental Treatment Slows Fatal Brain Disease in Women
A new analysis by TAU researchers found that an experimental treatment significantly slowed the progression of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) in women, highlighting the importance of sex-specific approaches to treating neurodegenerative diseases.
- Medicine
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have presented new findings indicating that the experimental drug Davunetide may significantly slow the progression of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) in women, who exhibited a markedly different response to treatment than men. These results reinforce the need for sex-specific medicine in neurodegenerative diseases.
The new publicarion, led by Prof. Illana Gozes of the Sagol School of Neuroscience and the Gray Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Tel Aviv University, used updated FDA-recommended outcome measures to reanalyze data from a 52-week international clinical trial involving more than 300 patients with PSP, a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by the abnormal accumulation of tau protein in the brain. There is currently no effective drug treatment for the disease.
The research team included current and former students Dr. Guy Shapira, Jason Blatt, and Liri Guz, together with Prof. Noam Shomron. The study was published in the prestigious journal Molecular Psychiatry from the Nature portfolio.
In contrast to the original conclusions of the clinical trial, which found that the drug was safe but ineffective, the researchers conducted an advanced and in-depth analysis that separated male and female participants and reexamined the data using updated assessment measures that are now recommended by the FDA. The results revealed a completely different picture: women treated with Davunetide experienced a significant slowing of disease progression, while no similar effect was observed in men.
Preserving Daily Function
The researchers found that the treatment helped preserve essential motor and functional abilities, including balance, fine motor skills, and everyday activities such as using cutlery, buttoning clothes, and washing the face and hands. In addition, the treated women showed significant improvements in cognitive measures, including language abilities, working memory, and overall cognitive function.
Different Disease Mechanisms in Women and Men
Another key finding of the study was the discovery of profound molecular differences between women and men. The researchers found that the relationship between the quantities of pathological tau in cerebrospinal fluid (a biomarker of the disease) and clinical symptoms was completely reversed between the two sexes. For example, language abilities significantly decreased with increased tau pathology in women, but not in men. This finding suggests that the disease mechanisms themselves may operate differently in women and men, potentially explaining their different responses to treatment.
According to Prof. Gozes, the study’s findings highlight that overlooking biological differences between the sexes may obscure genuine therapeutic efficacy.
“Our data show that analyzing women and men separately is not merely a statistical exercise, but an essential tool for developing more effective treatments for neurodegenerative brain diseases,” she says.
The researchers believe their findings provide a strong scientific basis for future clinical trials and for the future use of treatment protocols designed from the outset to account for patients’ sex, evaluating Davunetide as a targeted treatment for women with PSP. They say that this new approach may pave the way for the development of more precise medicine for patients with tau-related diseases, including the much more common Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders of the brain.
The study was supported by ExoNavis Therapeutics, which is developing Davunetide for brain diseases under a license from Ramot, Tel Aviv University’s technology transfer company. Prof. Gozes serves as the company’s Vice President for Drug Development, and Dr. Guy Shapira serves as a consulting statistician. The results were independently validated by several additional statisticians.
Research
Jul 26th, 2026
Which Fish Will Invade the Mediterranean Next?
TAU researchers have developed a model that predicts which Red Sea fish are most likely to invade the Mediterranean
- Life Sciences
More than 120 fish species have migrated from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean since the Suez Canal opened over 150 years ago. Now, researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a statistical model that can predict which species are likely to make the journey next.
Among the leading candidates identified by the model are the stellate pufferfish (Arothron stellatus), cinnabar goatfish (Parupeneus heptacantha), and yellowspotted trevally (Turrum fulvoguttatum). The full list appears in the published study.
The research was led by Dr. Shahar Chaikin as part of his doctoral studies at Tel Aviv University under the supervision of Prof. Jonathan Belmaker of the School of Zoology, the Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History. Additional contributors included Dr. Tal Gavriel, doctoral student Avery Deveto, and Shahar Malamud. The findings were published in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
Predicting Tomorrow's Marine Invaders
The new model ranks Red Sea fish species according to their likelihood of successfully establishing themselves in the Mediterranean.
Rather than simply explaining past invasions, the researchers designed the model to help scientists and environmental authorities anticipate future ones. As rising sea temperatures make the Mediterranean increasingly hospitable to tropical species, the model could become an important tool for environmental monitoring, early detection of invasive species, and informed conservation planning.
What Makes a Fish a Successful Invader?
To answer that question, the researchers deployed stereoscopic baited remote underwater video systems (stereo-BRUVs) at depths ranging from five to 150 meters in both the Gulf of Eilat and along Israel's Mediterranean coast.
Using hundreds of hours of underwater footage, they analyzed 179 fish populations, comparing species that have already invaded the Mediterranean with closely related species that remain confined to the Red Sea.
The three fish species ranked by the new model as having the highest invasion potential (left to right): the cinnabar goatfish, the stellate pufferfish, and the yellowspotted trevally.
Unlike previous studies, which focused only on species that had already completed the migration, this research also examined their source populations in the Red Sea, allowing the team to identify the traits that existed before the invasion occurred.
The strongest predictor proved to be unexpected.
Rather than being ecological "generalists" capable of thriving in many environments, the fish most likely to invade the Mediterranean were those least dependent on coral reefs.
Dr. Chaikin explains:
"The Suez Canal and the Mediterranean contain very few coral reefs like those found in the Red Sea. Species that depend on coral reefs are therefore unlikely to complete the journey. The fish that succeed in invading are those that do not rely on coral reefs for survival in the first place."
Species that depend on coral reefs are less likely to migrate from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, resulting in a lower invasion potential.
New Sea, New Habits
The study also revealed that fish change their behavior after arriving in the Mediterranean.
Instead of continuing to occupy the same habitats they used in the Red Sea, successful invaders quickly adapt to the environments available in their new home.
The researchers also found that invasive fish do not primarily occupy empty ecological niches, as commonly assumed. Instead, they settle in the same habitats used by native Mediterranean species, suggesting that competition for food, shelter, and space may be much more intense than previously believed.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 created a direct marine passage between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, allowing marine species to migrate between the two seas.
Prof. Belmaker says:
"Until now, researchers have tried to understand biological invasions primarily by examining species that had already reached the Mediterranean. We took a step back and asked what characterizes these species before they begin their journey. This distinction allows us to move beyond explaining invasions that have already occurred toward predicting the next ones."
As the Mediterranean continues to warm, the researchers expect tropical fish to establish themselves there more easily. They believe predictive models like this one could become an important component of environmental monitoring programs, helping scientists identify new arrivals sooner and better prepare for the ecological changes ahead.
