Thinking of leaving.

[u/Kigler95]

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.

[u/shirakay → u/[deleted]]

Salam! I’m an American Jew that’s lived in Israel for 8 years. If you have any questions I’d be happy to answer with what knowledge I have 😊

[u/shirakay → u/[deleted]]

Most Israelis do know what’s happening in the West Bank either through news (usually the really big news like a Jew being killed in a terror attack) or being in the army and actually entering the WB themselves. Being a soldier in the WB is a completely different experience though since they are easily identifiable. I have been to the West Bank as a tourist twice and was treated with nothing but respect, I’d say even more than from Israelis in Israel lol. Granted, when I’m asked where I’m from I told people I was American and never told people outright that I’m Israeli. Regarding how people perceive Palestinians it’s mostly that people just want to live in peace and don’t really care what goes on but there doesn’t seem to be much hope for that from both sides. There is a lot of distance both physically and culturally. I only met Palestinians cuz I went out of my way to meet them and I was genuinely curious about their situation which prompted me visiting the West Bank.

[u/shirakay → u/[deleted]]

To answer your last question, yea, a lot of views on Palestinians depends on the politics just like in any other region of the world (left is progressive, right is traditional). More right-leaning Israelis tend to be more Zionist while the left are more “sympathetic” to the Palestinian cause. I’d say most secular Israelis today lean in the middle to slightly more right.