More than 8,300 people have renounced Israeli citizenship in 12 years

An official Israeli report has revealed that thousands of people have renounced their citizenship after travelling abroad and becoming citizens of other countries, Ynet News reported on Thursday.

The report was prepared by the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority. It said that the exact number of those who had “renounced their citizenship in the past 12 years was 8,308.”

According to Ynet News, the report showed that the “year with the greatest number of Israelis who have become non-Israelis” was 2015, when “749 persons gave up their passports and blue identity cards”; there was “a mere 470” who did this in 2003. “This drastic increase, a rate of 18 per cent, also held in relation to 2014, when 635 persons renounced Israeli citizenship.”

The highest number of renunciations of Israeli citizenship took place in Germany followed by the United States, Austria, Britain and the Netherlands.

“Over the past dozen years,” added Ynet News, “a quarter of applications [to renounce citizenship] have been rejected, with the peak year being 2014, when about half of the applications were not granted.”