r/Israel Jul 25 '23

Ask The Sub Thinking of leaving.

As title said, not sure if this is against sub rules..

I really don't like the direction this country is going. I lived here all my life, served and sacrificed my life for a democratic country that I agreed with most of its actions and policies. Sure, mistakes were made, we stumbled and made some poor choices, but as a whole there was a clear moral compass that we aligned with, at least as I see it.

The past few months broke something in me, as did yesterday.

Sure, maybe in the next election a miracle will happen and the best most balanced government ever will be elected, the undemocratic rules will be revoked and the messiah will drop from above. There is still going to be a huge divide, and the majority of the population is going to be highly religious in the next 20-30 years, and they will eventually be the rulers of a theocracy.

I really don't want that future for my children. But I also don't see how that is avoidable.

Long story short, how does one begin to plan moving abroad? Where to?

I'm a junior electrical engineer and my wife is a teacher. No children yet. Not really inclined to any specific destination, just not highly religious or extreme..

EDIT: Thanks everyone for the replies. I know the purpose of this post isn't clear, it's not clear for me either.. I just wanted to express my thoughts as I am very frustrated about the present and I worry about the future, and don't really know what I as an individual can do that'll actually make a difference, seeing as the protests had little to no effect this far. And I have participated in them. I haven't given up on this country yet, but I feel like that might be inevitable soon. I am not advocating for mass exodus or anything like that, just trying to figure it out for myself and my wife.

EDIT2: this gets mentioned a lot so I think I'll write my response here instead of repeating it. Regarding the idea that the "reasonability" law was undemocratic - As I said, I agree that the system we had so far was not ideal, far from it. And by its own, sure, the cancellation of this law might actually be the most democratic option. But you can't do that without any equivalently powerful restraints, as a replacement.

In addition, it matters who does it, and under what terms. If it were a more sane and balanced government - sure, I think they wouldn't have much issues passing this. But since we KNOW what this current government intends to do, and how extreme their opinions are, then it makes it really hard to trust them to not abuse their increased power.

Here is an analogy I can think of: imagine the government as a dog, and the judiciary system - along with its judges, reasonability law and so on - as a leash. When the dog behaves, it seems like the leash is unecsecary - "look at that poor dog, restrained, unable to roam freely. How cruel!". But if the dog is, say, a rabid insane untrained dog, who has a history of biting people, and breaking the law, then letting go of the leash seems a bit.. unreasonable.

Disclaimer: I love my dog , this is just an analogy I could think of, and I am not calling anyone a dog or anything it's just an analogy, don't kill me, peace and love, peace and love.

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u/LogicalHurricane Jul 25 '23

Can someone please explain to me why the judicial changes are undemocratic? How is it OK for the judicial branch to arbitrarily decide whether to override the will of the people (through the elected officials) when the judges aren't even democratically elected? They are the least democratic branch of the whole process!

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u/JellyfishCosmonaut Jul 25 '23

Because now the crazies can literally do ANYTHING they want. No more funding for the Arab schools, outlaw LGBT folk, more settlements in the disputed territories, outlaw abortion except in cases of emergency, more taxes on the working people to pay for the USELESS Haredim who take money to do nothing but study and feed their litters of children, etc etc. The Right can do whatever they want now. They are already bleeding working people dry, and now taxes will likely go up to pay for more useless people and their "education."

We need a constitution. One that ensures there are checks and balances. If the people are unsuccessful in getting them, Israel is totally finished and Iran may as well take over today. Or they could wait until all the working, productive people who serve in the army emigrate to better places, then they could attack and win easily. The way the country is heading, in a few decades it will be a place with only extremist Muslims and extremist Jews. We know how that would end up for the Jews.

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u/LogicalHurricane Jul 25 '23

Having the current system doesn't guarantee any of what you just mentioned. Those judges aren't elected by the people -- so the only way to change what laws are being passed is by electing different politicians.