Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu instructed officials Sunday to examine
potential tax benefits that could be used to entice skilled expatriates back to
Israel.
Netanyahu told his cabinet that the economic crisis facing
Western nations presents an opportunity for Israel to strengthen its own
workforce by encouraging immigration and the return of former
Israelis.
Eugene Kendel, National Economic Council chairman, will lead
the taskforce in which he will work with the directors-general of the Treasury
and Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry to propose measures.
Israelis have
returned to the country at a rate of 12,000 per year for the past five years,
far exceeding the rate of 4,800 returnees per year from 2000 to 2007, according
to data presented to the cabinet by Immigrant Absorption Minister Sofa
Landver.
From May 2010 to September 2012, 29,679 Israeli expatriates
returned to the country to live, one-third of them aged 18 or under.
Tel
Aviv absorbed the most returning residents (3,227), followed by Jerusalem
(2,724), Haifa (1,223), Ra’anana (1,023), and Netanya (895).
The US was
by far the greatest source of returnees (14,133), followed by Canada (1,751),
the UK (1,672), France (1,669), Russia (812), Australia (724), and Jordan (695).