The Evolution of Attitudes toward Emigrants: Evidence from Israel

This paper explores the attitudes of sending states toward their emigrants, focusing on when, why, and how these attitudes change. These discursive shifts are then illustrated using the case study of Israel and its emigrants. Reviewing the theoretical literature on emigrant outreach and diaspora engagement, the paper proposes a theoretical framework for such changes, which is followed by a discourse analysis of Israeli emigrant-related parliamentary records and diplomatic documents from the 1970s to the present day. During the first decades of Israel’s independence, and particularly following the emigration wave of the mid-1970s, Israeli politicians and public figures generally viewed emigrants negatively – as traitors and deserters whose exit from the country undermined the Zionist national project. Since the 1990s, however, emigrants were increasingly conceptualized as potential assets who could contribute to Israel’s development even if they did not intend to return. Still, some Israeli officials continued to denounce emigrants as deserters and called for their delegitimization. The analysis identifies variations in attitudes among various political actors in Israel, explains them, and tracks broader discursive changes that have occurred over time. A special emphasis is placed on the reaction of Israeli politicians, diplomats, and bureaucrats to the formation and consolidation of an Israeli diaspora community abroad, distinct from the existing and long-established Jewish diaspora, as well as the evolution of the terms in which this new diaspora is discussed.