Israel’s return migration industry

This article examines the emergence of Israel's return migration industry (RMI). It argues that alongside the state, repatriation projects of (mostly skilled) migrants are increasingly (co)-produced and carried out by a widening range of non-state actors (NSAs). Informed by a networked governance approach, which dictates greater collaborations between a loosely connected set of actors in both Israel and overseas, the new structure allows the state to delegate responsibility for selected functions to civic and private organisations and still govern repatriation efforts effectively. By highlighting the industry’s involvement in two distinct, yet interrelated, phases of the migration process, namely recruitment and (re)integration, the article attends to the range of actors engaged in repatriation initiatives, analyses their roles and explores the geographical scales at which they operate. In so doing, it offers a more nuanced understanding of the industry in return, a traditionally less explored phase in the migratory process.