Why 70 Percent of Israeli Scientists Abroad Don't Return

Is that a random, chance impression or has the Israeli brain drain indeed gathered momentum? The question was put to the only people who can answer it: ScienceAbroad, a nonprofit organization that for 19 years has been doing what should be the government's job: staying in touch with Israeli scientists and physicians abroad, helping them integrate there while also creating communities of Israeli scientists, and finally trying to bring them back to Israel. Quietly, under the radar, ScienceAbroad has been the spearhead of the struggle against the brain drain from Israel.

Israel's government supports the organization with funding and various forms of cooperation. Also involved in the effort are all the universities in Israel, Sheba Medical Center and the Israel Medical Association. Still, it's the staff of ScienceAbroad and its volunteers who are in contact with the more than 11,000 Israeli scientists and medical doctors living in more than 30 countries, some 4,500 of whom it has helped organize into active, mutually supporting communities. It has branches across the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Switzerland and Austria.

That latter mission is no easy task. The nonprofit's CEO, Nadav Douani, is extremely proud that more than 1,200 scientists have returned to Israel over the years with the organization's assistance. But that impressive number sounds a lot less exciting when translated into percentages. Over the years, some 70 percent of the scientists who have been members of ScienceAbroad communities have not returned. That fraction has remained relatively stable over the years, from long before COVID, the judicial coup or October 7. In other words, more then two-thirds of Israel's brilliant minds who go abroad to develop their careers, stay abroad.

A brain drain of 70 percent characterizes the scientists who go overseas to do a postdoc. The situation among physicians who go abroad on a fellowship is apparently somewhat better. A study conducted in 2024 by Dr. Mayan Gilboa and Dr. Lior Seluk among Israeli physicians abroad found that 31 percent of them had not returned to Israel even after completing their fellowships.

A fellowship is relatively short – two or three years at most – and for that reason, apparently, physicians are less likely to settle abroad, besides which decent and plentiful employment opportunities await them in Israel. There's a tremendous shortage of doctors in the country, and everyone who returns is immediately snapped up. Still, 31 percent who aren't in a hurry to get home, even though they're eagerly awaited here, is a worrisome figure.

Little optimism

The surveys conducted by ScienceAbroad among the members of its communities overseas find a consistent, depressing disparity between the attitudes of scientists before they leave the country for postdocs or other programs, and their approach when they're already abroad, after having set themselves up and gone through the integration process, when they become full aware of the possibilities that the big wide world can offer them.

In the latest survey, from 2024, 61 percent of those about to go abroad reported that they intended to return to Israel, while only 9.5 percent were considering emigration in advance. After the period of integration abroad, the 61 percent who had intended to return shrank to 16 percent, while the 9.5 percent who were dreaming of living abroad from the start surged to 31 percent.

In the latest survey, from 2024, 61 percent of those about to leave Israel reported that they intended to return. After the period of integration abroad, the 61 percent shrank to 16 percent.

Another 52 percent replied in the survey that they didn't know where they would be five years down the line, but there's little reason to be optimistic about these waverers. Almost half of them tend to remain abroad. All told, whereas a large percentage of those who originally intended to return to Israel changed their minds, not one of those who intended from the outset to emigrate had a change of heart. On the contrary: they only became more fixed in their decision to stay overseas.

The ScienceAbroad staff are unable to say whether the 70 percent of the scientists who choose not to return to Israel are the most brilliant group – those who received dream offers in terms of salary and promotion and for whom Israel no longer has allure – or whether they are the weaker 70 percent who don't have a position awaiting them in Israeli academia. It's probably some of each, though the evidence is mounting that the proportion of the most talented individuals who are choosing not to return is growing, especially over the past two years, in the wake of the regime coup and the war.

The examination of attitudes among the physicians – all of whom can count on finding a job in Israel – dwelt on the obstacles to returning. The main reasons for hesitation about returning were related to salary potential (physicians in Israel make far less than their American counterparts, for example) and the life-work balance. At the same time, the three next hurdles in order of importance were the political tension in Israel over the government's attempts to change the nature of the regime (39 percent of the respondents), the situation of the Israeli education system (37 percent) and the war (31 percent).

ScienceAbroad also asked the Israeli scientists how the regime coup and the war affected their intentions of returning to Israel. The responses were not heartening: 45 percent said the regime coup had led to their decision to stay abroad, and 47 percent pinned the blame on the war. Still, with regard to the war, there's also an optimistic side: 5.4 percent reported that they had decided to return to Israel precisely because of the war. Not one scientist cited the government's legal coup as having led to a similar, positive decision.

Douani highlights another consequence of the war that impacts scientists' willingness to return to Israel: a rise in antisemitism. This refers not to the protests of pro-Palestinian students – that doesn't bother the Israeli scientists – but to anti-Israel attitudes among faculty at leading universities. Those attitudes naturally also affect work on campus, and also rule out possibilities of promotion for the Israeli scientists. When an article is rejected for publication, and there is a suspicion is that this is due to the author's national identity and not to the quality of the paper, the individual's scientific advancement can grind to a halt.

This perceived antisemitism is pushing Israeli scientists to return home, but along the way it threatens to deliver a mortal blow to Israel academia overall. Without postdocs and other fellowships, and without publication of research, Israeli science will lose its greatness.

Even without the quadrupling of the Israelis at Cambridge, it's quite clear that the reality at home is affecting Israeli academia and intensifying the brain drain of brilliant scientists and physicians. Without question, the past two years – with the regime coup and the war – have only exacerbated a situation that was grim to begin with.

The government is considering measures meant to lure scientists and physicians back home. That could be an important step, but it won't help if the war and the regime coup continue to take their toll.

Meirav Arlosoroff