Foreign
For thousands of Jews, Israel doesn’t feel safe after Oct. 7, so they’re leaving
Leaving Israel is easier, Shira Z. Carmel thinks, by saying it’s just for now. But she knows better.
For the Israeli-born singer and an increasing number of relatively well-off Israelis, the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack shattered any sense of safety and along with it, Israel’s founding promise: to be the world’s safe haven for Jews. That day, thousands of Hamas militants blew past the country’s border defenses, killed 1,200 people and dragged 250 more into Gaza in a siege that caught the Israeli army by surprise and stunned a nation that prides itself on military prowess. This time, during what became known as Israel’s 9/11, the army didn’t come for hours.
Ten days later, a pregnant Carmel, her husband and their toddler boarded a flight to Australia, which was looking for people in her husband’s profession. And they spun the explanation to friends and family as something other than permanent — “relocation” is the easier-to-swallow term — acutely aware of the familial strain and the shame that have shadowed Israelis who leave for good.
“We told them we’re going to get out of the line of fire for awhile,” Carmel said more than a year later from her family’s new home in Melbourne. “It wasn’t a hard decision. But it was very hard to talk to them about it. It was even hard to admit it to ourselves.”
Thousands of Israelis have left the country since Oct. 7, 2023, according to government statistics and immigration tallies released by destination countries such as Canada and Germany. There’s concern about whether it will drive a “brain drain” in sectors like medicine and tech. Migration experts say it’s possible people leaving Israel will surpass the number of immigrants to Israel in 2024, according to Sergio DellaPergola, a statistician and professor emeritus of Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
“In my view, this year people entering will be smaller than the total of the exit,” he said. “And this is quite unique in the existence of the State of Israel.”
The Oct. 7 effect on Israeli emigration is enough for prominent Israelis to acknowledge the phenomenon publicly — and warn of rising antisemitism elsewhere.
“There is one thing that worries me in particular: talks about leaving the country. This must not happen,” former premier Naftali Bennett, a staunch critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tweeted in June after a conversation with friends who were leaving. Israel, he wrote, needs to retain the talent. “Who wants to return to the days of the wandering Jew, without real freedom, without a state, subject to every anti-Semitic whim?”
Thousands of Israelis have opted to pay the financial, emotional and social costs of moving out since the Oct. 7 attack, according to government statistics and families who spoke to The Associated Press in recent months after emigrating to Canada, Spain and Australia. Israel’s overall population continues to grow toward 10 million people.
But it’s possible that 2024 ends with more Israelis leaving the country than coming in. That’s even as Israel and Hezbollah reached a fragile ceasefire along the border with Lebanon and Israel and Hamas inch toward a pause in Gaza.
Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics estimated in September that 40,600 Israelis departed long-term over the first seven months of 2024, a 59% increase over the same period a year earlier, when 25,500 people left. Monthly, 2,200 more people departed this year than in 2023, CBS reported.
The Israeli Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, which does not deal with people leaving, said more than 33,000 people have moved to Israel since the start of the war, about on par with previous years. The interior minister refused to comment for this story.
The numbers are equally dramatic in destination countries. More than 18,000 Israelis applied for German citizenship in 2024, more than double the same period in 2023 and three times that of the year before, the Interior Ministry reported in September.
Canada, which has a three-year work visa program for Israelis and Palestinians fleeing the war, received 5,759 applications for work permits from Israeli citizens between January and October this year, the government told The Associated Press. In 2023, that number was 1,616 applications, and a year earlier the tally was 1,176 applications, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
Other clues, too, point to a notable departure of Israelis since the Oct. 7 attacks. Gil Fire, deputy director of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, said that some of its star specialists with fellowship postings of a few years in other countries began to waver about returning.
“Before the war, they always came back and it was not really considered an option to stay. And during the war we started to see a change,” he said. “They said to us, ‘We will stay another year, maybe two years, maybe more.’”
Fire says it’s “an issue of concern” enough for him to plan in-person visits with these doctors in the coming months to try to draw them back to Israel.
Michal Harel, who moved with her husband to Toronto in 2019, said that almost immediately after the attacks the phone began ringing — with other Israelis seeking advice about moving to Canada. On Nov. 23, 2023, the couple set up a website to help Israelis navigate moving, which can cost at least 100,000 Israeli shekels, or about $28,000, Harel and other Israeli relocation experts said.
Not everyone in Israel can just pack up and move overseas. Many of those who have made the move have foreign passports, jobs at multinational corporations or can work remotely. People in Gaza have even less choice. The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced by relentless Israeli bombing since Oct. 7, 2023, yet no one has been able to leave the enclave since May. Before then, at least 100,000 Palestinians are believed to have left Gaza.
Health officials in Gaza say Israeli bombing has killed more than 45,000 people.
Speaking by phone last month, Harel reported that the site has received views from 100,000 unique visitors and 5,000 direct contacts in 2024 alone.
“It’s people who want to move quickly with families, to wake up in the morning and enjoy life,” she said. “Right now (in Israel), it’s trauma, trauma, trauma.”
“Some of them,” Harel added, “they want to keep everything a secret.”
Aliya — the Hebrew term for used for immigration, literally the “ascent” of Jews into Israel — has always been part of the country’s plan. But “yerida” — the term used for leaving the country, literally the “descent” of Jews from Israel to the diaspora, emphatically has not.
For Israel’s first decades of independence, the government strongly discouraged departing Israelis, who were seen in some cases as cowardly and even treasonous. A sacred trust and a social contract took root in Israeli society. The terms go — or went — like this: Israeli citizens would serve in the military and pay high taxes. In exchange, the army would keep them safe. Meanwhile, it’s every Jew’s obligation to stay, work and fight for Israel’s survival.
“Emigration was a threat, especially in the early years (when) there were problems of nation-building. In later decades, Israel became more established and more self-confident,” said Ori Yehudai, a professor of Israel studies at Ohio State University and the author of “Leaving Zion,” a history of Israeli emigration. The sense of shame is more of a social dynamic now, he said, but “people still feel they have to justify their decision to move.”
Shira Carmel says she has no doubt about her decision. She’d long objected to Netanyahu’s government’s efforts to overhaul the legal system, and was one of the first women to don the blood-red “Handmaid’s Tale” robes that became a fixture of the anti-government protests of 2023. She was terrified as a new mom, and a pregnant one, during the Hamas attack, and appalled at having to tell her toddler that they were gathering in the bomb shelter for “hugging parties” with the neighbors. This was not the life she wanted.
Meanwhile, Australia beckoned. Carmel’s brother had lived there for two decades. The couple had the equivalent of a green card due to Carmel’s husband’s profession. In the days after the attack, Carmel’s brother alerted her to the possibility of a flight out of Israel for free, if on very short notice, which she confirmed with the Australian embassy in Israel. Basic logic, she says, pointed toward moving.
And yet.
Carmel recalls the frenzied hours before the flight out in which she said to her husband in the privacy of their bedroom: “My God, are we really doing this?”
They decided not to decide, opting instead for: “We’re just getting on a plane for now, being grateful.” They packed lightly.
On the ground half a world away, weeks became months. And they decided: “I’m not going to go back to try to give birth in the war.” In December, they told their families back in Israel that they were staying “for now.”
“We don’t define it as ‘forever,’” Carmel said Tuesday. “But we are for sure staying for the foreseeable future.”
ABCNews
Counter-terrorism police are involved in an investigation into a mass stabbing on a train in eastern England, which left nine people suffering with life-threatening injuries.
A man with a large knife is believed to have been shot with a Taser by police after going on a bloody rampage on a high-speed train after it left Peterborough station in Cambridgeshire.
British Transport Police (BTP) said two people have been arrested over the stabbings, which happened on the 6:25 pm (1825 GMT) train service from Doncaster to London King’s Cross on Saturday.
“Officers immediately attended Huntingdon station alongside paramedics.
“Armed police from Cambridgeshire Police boarded the train and arrested two people in connection to the incident, who have been taken to police custody.
“Ten people have been taken to hospital, with nine believed to have suffered life-threatening injuries. One is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. There have been no fatalities.
“This has been declared a major incident and Counter Terrorism Policing are supporting our investigation whilst we work to establish the full circumstances and motivation for this incident.”
BTP Chief Superintendent Chris Casey said: “This is a shocking incident and first and foremost my thoughts are with those who have been injured this evening and their families.
“We’re conducting urgent enquiries to establish what has happened, and it could take some time before we are in a position to confirm anything further.
“At this early stage it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident.
“Our response is ongoing at the station and will be for some time. Cordons are in place and trains are not currently running through the area, and there are also some road closures.
“I thank the public for their patience and their cooperation this evening which has already greatly assisted our policing response. We will update you again as soon as we have more information.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the incident as “deeply concerning” and urged people to follow police advice.
Witnesses have spoken of seeing a man with a large knife and passengers hiding in the toilets to escape the rampage, The Times newspaper reported.
One told the paper there was “blood everywhere” and people were getting “stamped” on by others as they tried to flee.
The witness said: “I heard some people shouting we love (you).”
The Sun newspaper said another witness described the attack as “like something from a film,” adding: “It was a terrible scene, really violent.”
The attack is understood to have started shortly after the LNER train left Peterborough station.
Nigerian Tribune
Burkina Faso’s Transitional Legislative Assembly on Tuesday approved the dissolution of the country’s Independent National Electoral Commission which has been in place for more than 20 years.
This formalises a bill adopted in July by the country’s military rulers, led by Captain Ibrahim Traoré. The junta had described the commission as a “waste of money” and susceptible to what it said was “foreign influence”.
Under the new law, the Ministry of Territorial Administration will now be in charge of organising elections.
When it seized power in September 2022, the military promised to restore a civilian government within 21 months.
But in May last year, the junta extended the period of transition by five years and announced that Traoré would be allowed to contest the next presidential election.
The military leaders have reduced ties with Western countries, including former colonial power, France, and forged a closer strategic and economic partnership with Russia.
President Donald Trump has directed the United States military to resume nuclear weapons testing, ending a 33-year break.
The announcement came on Thursday on Truth Social, minutes before he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea.
“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” Trump posted. “Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years.”
The move appears aimed at both Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia recently carried out a series of nuclear-related tests, though the Kremlin said none involved actual nuclear explosions. “Until now, we didn’t know that anyone was testing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Russia would only test in response to another country doing so.
No nuclear power other than North Korea has conducted explosive testing in over 25 years. The U.S. last tested in 1992, Russia in 1990, and China in 1996.
China’s Foreign Ministry urged Washington to honor its long-standing moratorium on nuclear testing and maintain “global strategic balance and stability.”
According to Reuters, it remains unclear whether Trump’s order refers to underground explosive tests or missile flight tests.
Speaking later aboard Air Force One, Trump said testing was necessary to keep pace with rival powers. “With others doing testing, I think it’s appropriate that we do also,” he said, adding that test sites would be announced later.
He dismissed concerns about rising nuclear risks, saying U.S. weapons were “well locked up,” and repeated his call for global denuclearization. “We are actually talking to Russia about that, and China would be added to that if we do something,” he said.
The decision follows China’s rapid nuclear buildup, doubling its arsenal from 300 to about 600 warheads since 2020, and Russia’s recent tests of nuclear-capable weapons, including the Poseidon underwater drone and Burevestnik missile.
In the U.S., Trump’s announcement drew swift criticism. Representative Dina Titus of Nevada said she would introduce legislation to block the move. Daryl Kimball of the Arms Control Association called Trump’s decision “misinformed,” warning it could “trigger a chain reaction of nuclear testing by U.S. adversaries, and blow apart the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
According to Reuters, experts say resuming underground nuclear tests in Nevada would take at least three years to prepare.
(Reuters)
China will slap port fees on U.S.-owned, operated, built, or flagged vessels on Tuesday as a countermeasure to U.S. port fees on China-linked ships starting the same day, China’s transport ministry said on Friday.
The move came shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump said there is no reason to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping in two weeks in South Korea as planned, adding on social media that the U.S. is calculating a massive increase in tariffs on imports from China. Trump said China has been sending letters to countries saying it planned to impose export controls on rare earths production.
There are relatively few U.S.-built or U.S.-flagged vessels conducting international trade, but China will ensnare more ships by applying levies to companies with 25 percent or more of their shares or board seats held by U.S.-domiciled investment funds, analysts said.
‘Quite an impact’
U.S.-based shipping company Matson told customers on Friday it is subject to the new China port fees and has no plans to change its service schedule.
Also likely affected are CMA-CGM’s U.S.-based American President Lines and Israel-based Zim, which appears to have more than 25 percent of its shares owned by U.S. entities, Lars Jensen, CEO of consultancy Vespucci Maritime, said on LinkedIn.
The China fees also could apply to vessels owned by Poseidon’s Seaspan, said Jensen, an expert on container shipping.
“This could be quite an impact as it means that the more than 100 vessels owned by Seaspan, and chartered by a variety of major container lines, would now be subject to fees in China in addition to the fees in the U.S. for their Chinese-built vessels,” Jensen said. Also starting on Tuesday, ships built in China – or operated or owned by Chinese entities – will need to pay a fee at their first port of call in the United States.
Vessels owned or operated by a Chinese entity will face a flat fee of $50 per net tonnage per voyage to the U.S. China-owned carrier COSCO, including its OOCL fleet, is the most exposed with fees of around $2 billion in 2026, analysts said.
Maersk Line Limited, APL, Zim, Seaspan, and COSCO did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the fees.
China calls U.S. fees discriminatory
The U.S. fees on China-linked vessels, following a probe by the U.S. Trade Representative, are part of a broader U.S. effort to revive domestic shipbuilding and blunt China’s naval and commercial shipping power.
“It is clearly discriminatory and severely damages the legitimate interests of China’s shipping industry, seriously disrupts the stability of the global supply chain, and seriously undermines the international economic and trade order,” the Chinese ministry said.
The USTR’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a separate statement released later on Friday, Beijing’s commerce ministry said the Chinese countermeasures were in “justified” self-defence aimed at safeguarding fairness in the global shipping and shipbuilding markets.
Over the past two decades, China has catapulted itself to the No. 1 position in the shipbuilding world, with its biggest shipyards handling both commercial and military projects.
Last year, Chinese shipyards built more than 1,000 commercial vessels, while the U.S. constructed fewer than 10, according to military and industry analysts.
The Chinese fees on U.S. vessels could hurt the U.S. less than the U.S. fees might harm the legion of Chinese ships.
The fees announced by China, like those put in place by the U.S., “add further complexity and cost to the global network that keeps goods moving and economies connected, and risk harming their exporters, producers, and consumers at a time when global trade is already under pressure,” said Joe Kramek, president and CEO of the World Shipping Association.
Rates rise over three years
For U.S.-linked vessels berthing at Chinese ports starting Tuesday, the rate will be 400 yuan ($56.13) per net metric ton, the Chinese transport ministry said.
That will increase to 640 yuan ($89.81) from April 17, 2026, and to 880 yuan ($123.52) from April 17, 2027.
For vessels calling at Chinese ports from April 17, 2028, the charge will be 1,120 yuan ($157.16) per net metric ton.
Tensions between China and the United States have deepened since September, with the two superpowers struggling to move beyond their trade tariff truce — a 90-day pause from August 11 that ends around November 9.
Retaliatory tariffs in the U.S.-China trade war this year have sharply curtailed Chinese imports of U.S. agriculture and energy products.
Korea Times
The White House lashed out at the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday (US time) after it awarded the peace prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and overlooked US President Donald Trump.
“The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung said on X.
“President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”
Since returning to the White House for his second term in January, Trump had repeatedly insisted that he deserved the Nobel for his role in resolving numerous conflicts – a claim observers say is broadly exaggerated.
Trump restated his claim on the eve of the peace prize announcement, saying that his brokering of the first phase of a ceasefire in Gaza this week was the eighth war he had ended.
But he added on Thursday: “Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that, I did it because I’ve saved a lot of lives.”
Nobel Prize experts in Oslo had insisted in the run-up to Friday’s announcement that Trump had no chance, noting that his ‘America First’ policies run counter to the ideals of the Peace Prize as laid out in Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will creating the award.
An Ebola outbreak that has plagued southern Congo in recent weeks is starting to be contained, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, with no new cases reported since the U.N. health agency’s last update on Oct. 1.
“As of Oct. 5, 2025, 10 days have passed without any newly reported cases, indicating potential control of transmission in the affected areas,” the agency said during a news conference.
The agency said a total of 64 cases, including 53 confirmed and 11 probable, have been reported in Congo’s Kasai Province as of Oct. 5. The WHO also reported 43 deaths, including 32 confirmed and 11 probable.
Congolese authorities announced an Ebola outbreak in Congo’s southern Kasai province on Sept. 4, the first in 18 years in the remote part of the country located more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the capital of Kinshasa.
Health authorities and organizations had recently sounded the alarm, warning they lack the funds and resources to mount an effective response to the crisis.
The WHO said improved logistics and field operations, including helicopter and ground deliveries of medical supplies and the decontamination of three health facilities, have helped contain the outbreak over the last week.
“This steady decline in transmission and improved case management reflect the impact of coordinated interventions led by the Ministry of Health with support from WHO and partners,” the agency said.
The WHO still advised caution, as almost 2,000 contacts — people who may have been exposed to the disease — are being monitored and a “single missed contact could reignite transmission chains, especially in areas with high population movement or limited community surveillance.”
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