Professor Chen Hoffman is one of them. The Jewish day of worship and rest, which begins at sunset every Friday evening, ends the Sabbath the next day with an anti-government protest.
Every Saturday evening there is a big protest in the center of Tel Aviv:
“We were not in the habit of participating in the protests, but we feel compelled to do so because we think we have lost our country.”
PREPARING TO MOVE TO ENGLAND
Doctor Hoffman, a leading professor of radiology in Israel, is preparing to move to the UK. Moreover, he is trying to convince other family members who have passports from European countries.
“I’m going to London, taking a year off from work,” said Hoffman. I will see if I can live outside of Israel,” he says.
“If the situation gets worse, which is getting worse every day, we will find ourselves a new place to live.”
Crowds marching on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv with Israeli flags, horns and slogans protesting against the law that seeks to limit the Supreme Court’s powers.
Demonstrators say the law threatens democracy. However, Israel’s coalition government, which includes the far right, argues that this step will strengthen democracy. The Netanyahu government claims that the steps the elected are trying to take under the current laws can be rejected too easily.
HIGHER EDUCATION SECTIONS APPLY
While protesters still hope the new laws can be rolled back, many say they or their relatives are considering the possibility of emigration.
“It would be a huge disappointment, but I won’t be raising my kids in an undemocratic country,” says Sarah, who attended the show.
“I will stay here if I believe that the rights of my daughter, a young woman, are guaranteed”
Israel’s experts on relocation say there has been an increase in applications.
It is noted that factors such as the economic effects of the changes in the high judiciary and the cost of living increase the applications.
Shay Obazanek, owner of Ocean Relocation, said, “There has been a huge increase in the number of people trying to get information about the process. ‘We want to move to another country, where should we start?’ They are looking for an answer to the question,” he says.
Ruth Nevo, who does a similar job at her Portugal-based company, says she’s starting to have Israeli customers for the first time:
“This is really crazy; While we haven’t received a single phone call for years, now 25 people a day contact us in this way.
“And those who want information, really well-educated people; I’m talking about lawyers, judges, police, academics and experts in internet technologies. They are very concerned about what is happening in their country.”
EXTREME CONSERVATIVES IN POWER
When we look at countries that have gone through similar processes, it is seen that most of the people who consider the possibility of migration do not turn it into action.
Before and after Donald Trump’s election in 20161, many Americans who said they would move to other countries gave up.
However, the recent political turmoil in Israel has created deep divisions in society.
The coalition formed by Benjamin Netanyahu needs the support of extremists and nationalists to survive. These elements of Israeli society are conservatives, with high population growth due to high birth rates.
While the secular segments of the society in Israel are increasingly becoming a minority in the country, they think that liberal lifestyles are also under threat. He fears that the courts will no longer be able to protect human rights.
Professor Alon Tal, Head of the Department of Public Law at Tel Aviv University, says that the process that has been underway in the last six months has suddenly become “overly visible”.
According to Tal, secular Jews in the country shoulder a large part of the tax burden, as well as undertake military service to a large extent. In contrast, religious Jewish communities continue to benefit from the various exemptions they have obtained in military service over the decades.
Professor Tal said that a mass migration movement can have devastating consequences; argues that it could have major impacts in medicine, academia, and high-tech:
“If the talented people who have made this country what it is today and who carry the economic development and innovation on their shoulders, think that this country no longer represents them and decide to leave, we may see an economic collapse.”
“THIS SECOND MISSION AFTER MILITARY”
Professor Hoffman at Sheba Medical Center examines MRI images of a pregnant woman. One of four experts in fetal neuroradiology in Israel.
A recent study in the country shows that more than a third of young Israeli doctors and medical students plan to leave the country.
Professor Hoffman says many experienced people, like himself, were considering the same choice, but stuck in the middle:
“Even now, we have a shortage of doctors. Even if only 5 percent leave, it would have devastating effects.”
The country’s national anthem plays at the weekly protest in Tel Aviv.
Those on the street for the demonstration describe themselves as patriots. Many people here are ex-military or still reservists.
Some of them say that no matter what happens, they will not leave.
“I am very worried, but I will stay anyway because I feel the solidarity,” says a woman named Ruth, a doctor who has worked in other countries.
“This is my responsibility. For me, this is like a second (patriotic) mission after military service. We are like an army,” he says.
While the masses chanting slogans for democracy are trying to force the government to step back from the law amendment plan, the country is now evolving into a different struggle; To leave Israel, or not to leave.
Yolande Knell
BBC News Middle East Correspondent