Israel’s Second Diaspora 
By Jonathan Grossman

During its first decades, the State of Israel marginalized and delegitimized those who decided to leave it. Subscribing to the “Ingathering of the Exiles” idea and striving to maintain a Jewish demographic majority in the country, Israeli elites viewed Jewish immigration as a top priority. Consequently, Jews who emigrated from Israel were publicly denounced as traitors and defectors. The most famous condemnation came from Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who in a 1976 television interview labeled emigrants “the fallen among the weaklings.”

As emigration continued and accelerated, many Israelis in the United States and other destination countries began to coalesce into organized Hebrew-speaking diaspora communities, establishing their own organizations, business and commercial enterprises, and media outlets. By the late 1970s, Israeli officials became worried about the emergence and permanence of these communities. They feared that by offering emigrants job opportunities, social networks, and a familiar cultural environment, the Israeli diaspora might ease the integration of emigrants into their receiving societies, hinder their return, and attract additional emigrants. In 1977, Minister of Immigrant Absorption David Levy characterized this emerging diaspora as “a dangerous absorbing unit that assists every Israeli emigrant, not only morally but also materially; a unit that takes care of finding employment for the emigrant, and thus contributes to emigration.”

With time, however, Israel’s position gradually shifted. The huge influx of Jewish immigrants into Israel in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, helped mitigate the country’s demographic anxiety. At the same time, the economic and political success of some Israelis abroad caused a portion of the country’s elites to think of them as a potential resource that could be utilized to promote Jerusalem’s interests. Against this backdrop, more and more Israeli officials argued that an organized diaspora community could help maintain emigrants’ Israeli and Jewish identity, and especially that of their children; slow down their assimilation into their local societies; and maybe, one day, lead to their return. As for those who chose to remain abroad, a growing number of officials conceded that it would be more profitable for Israel to treat them as part of the nation and tap their skills, wealth, and networks rather than ostracize them.

Israel’s recognition of the new diaspora as a permanent phenomenon consolidated in the 2000s and especially the 2010s, influenced by global trends: witnessing how countries around the world were wooing and engaging with overseas citizens and benefitting from these ties, Israeli officials sought to do the same. In 2012, Member of Knesset Einat Wilf, heading a special parliamentary subcommittee for the reexamination of Israel-diaspora relations, proposed adopting India’s model, by which skilled emigrants are viewed “not only in terms of loss, of flight,” but rather as people who “remain a resource.” A strong and organized diaspora was increasingly perceived as a way to ensure the continuing attachment and assistance of such emigrants to Israel.

Indeed, in the last two decades, this diaspora’s legitimacy in Israel has grown substantially, in tandem with its resources and influence. In particular, the Israeli American Council (IAC), the largest Israeli diaspora organization in the United States, has become a powerful political actor with ties to the highest government officials in both countries. Former US President Donald J. Trump was the keynote speaker at IAC’s 2019 national summit in Florida. Because of their influence and unprecedented assistance to Israel, Israeli diaspora members and organizations have become increasingly self-confident and unapologetic about their decision not to return, while Israeli officials have stopped pressuring them to do so and instead praised their support.

Thus, at the IAC 2023 annual summit in Texas, a question was posed to Amichai Chikli, Israel's current Minister of Diaspora Affairs, regarding his view of the role of the US Israeli community. Chikli responded that, in his opinion, its primary role was simply "to be a community." He did not mention the prospect of returning to Israel. It seems, then, that the transformation of organized Israeli communities abroad from a “dangerous absorbing unit” to an esteemed partner and a legitimate diaspora has been completed.

*You can read more about Israel’s changing attitude toward its new diaspora in Dr. Grossman's most recent article, which was published in Global Networks in March 2024 here.

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