You don’t offer tax holidays to people who already want to live there. You do that when the belief is gone. Zionism has evidently had its day then. Right, so Israel is offering new immigrants and returning residents a zero per cent income tax rate in 2026, rising in stages afterward, on earnings up to one million shekels. That sits on top of the ten-year exemption on foreign income already available under the Law of Return. Full tax holidays. During a wartime deficit. All while Israel commits genocide in Gaza. The mass killing of civilians, the destruction of hospitals, homes, universities, and the forced displacement of the population as have been documented over 2 long years and amid multiple violations of the current ceasefire. The record, despite Israel’s best efforts is public. The death toll is civilian. The siege very much engineered by them. At the same time, Israelis have been leaving in droves, especially those working in the tech sector, which Israel is so proud of. The departures are logged, the economy’s freefall is documented. And the government is trying to sell these tax breaks as some kind of Zionist revival. When a “homeland” has to pay its own people to come “home”, then clearly it is nothing of the sort to them. Zionism is clearly finished if you have to bribe Jews to engage with it. Right, so a state calling itself the Jewish homeland has begun paying Jews to live there. Israel is offering new immigrants and returning residents a zero per cent income tax rate for the year 2026, with the rate rising in stages afterward. The policy was announced to great fanfare. Therefore it is not a rumour. It is not a trial. It is a budget measure. The government has set out the timeline and the thresholds and the eligibility conditions. The offer sits alongside an existing ten-year exemption on foreign income for new immigrants and those who have lived abroad for a decade or longer. Anyone, anywhere paying tax will know this is not a minor offer, these are not marginal deductions. These are full exemptions. The state is suspending its claim to tax revenue full stop for a defined group of arrivals. The eligibility process runs through the Population and Immigration Authority and the Tax Authority. The classification of an applicant as a new immigrant or senior returning resident determines access to the exemption. Proof of foreign residence for ten consecutive years is required for the foreign income exemption. The requirements are listed in the residency determination guidelines.