Current sectionArt & CultureShare to FacebookShare to XArticle printing is available to subscribers onlyPrint in a simple, ad-free formatSubscribeComments: Zen reading is available to subscribers onlyAd-free and in a comfortable reading formatSubscribePassengers lining up in front of airline counters at Ben-Gurion Airport, 1970. Credit: Moshe Milner/GPOFifty years ago, a heated debate erupted over Israelis leaving the country. Some called for them to be punished: 'To chastise them with harsh criticism, so they know the stigma of desertion is etched on their foreheads and a mark of shame adheres to them'Ofer Aderet01:39 PM • August 19 2026 IDTFifty years ago, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin coined a phrase that entered the Israeli lexicon. "A cascade of wimps" (nefolet shel nemushot) is what Rabin called in 1976 those who emigrated from the country, as reports on their numbers filled the newspaper pages, just like today. Loading...Click the alert icon to follow topics:HistoryYom KippurYitzhak RabinIDFCommentsLoading...In the NewsIn the News: Live UpdatesIranLikudJared KushnerIsrael ElectionsNetanyahuAvraham BurgAnan KhalailiAIPACHaaretz PodcastA Few Good Women: Photos of Israelis Protesting the War While Most Stay Silent'Cascade of Wimps': How Israel Shamed Those Who Chose to LeaveWhy Some Israeli Artists Think Twice Before Speaking OutEastern Exposure: A Groundbreaking 1930s Portrait Series From PalestinePalestinian Comedy Festival Gets Last Laugh as Israel Bars Entry to Six ComicsRemembering and rebuilding two years laterICYMIShe's the Superstar of the Israeli Left, and She Wants PowerIDF Marks Detained Palestinians With Numbers as Northern West Bank Raids ExpandIsrael Police Say Missing Israeli Mother and Daughter Found in ArgentinaReality Check: As the Election Nears, Haaretz Debunks Israeli Politicians' Biggest LiesThe American Jewish Establishment Is Defending an Israel That No Longer Exists'We're Not Nazis. This Isn't an Extermination Machine as During the Holocaust'