By Bruce S. Ticker in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Unlike the United States, Israel does not permit citizens who live outside the country to vote by absentee ballot, so thousands of expats – possibly up to 50,000 – flew back to Israel to vote on Tuesday, mainly to strip Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightwing coalition of its power to govern Israel.
They clearly contributed to the outcome of Israel’s long-awaited national election, the first since the massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israeli voters denied Netanyahu’s bloc a majority, even though it outnumbers the more centrist opposition.
Retired military chief Gadi Eisenkot, as the opposition leader, is now positioned to decide how Israel will be governed. No political force can claim a majority, and Eisenkot has said he refuses to join a coalition government with a bloc led by Netanyahu or the Arab parties. The alternative would be new elections. YIKES!!!
More than a half-million expats are believed to live in America, a great many of them residing in New York and California. Both states have grown more liberal and Democratic in recent decades. If Israeli expats could vote by absentee ballot, wanna bet how that would have affected Tuesday’s election?
Eisenkot would now be measuring the drapes at the Knesset.
Absentee ballots should be made available to all Israelis who live elsewhere. The current government can do this. If they refuse, then the succeeding government should institute absentee ballots for all. At this time, only Israelis who work for the government can vote by absentee ballot.
The idea of dual citizenship has its issues, but expats have a stake in Israel’s future. They have friends and relatives living there whose lives could be jeopardized by the government’s flawed decisions. Many may move back to Israel at some point. Perhaps their choice of candidates will improve the very conditions that drove them from Israel in the first place.
The Jerusalem Post reports that the Central Elections Committee (CEC) announced on Wednesday that Netanyahu’s bloc is expected to hold 53 seats, eight seats short of a 61-seat majority. His party, Likud, is projected to enter with 26 seats. Eisenkot’s coalition is projected to take 48 seats. His party, Yashar, is projected to hold 21 seats.
Two Arab parties are projected to hold a combined 19 seats.
Though Team Netanyahu won the most votes, it can do nothing without a majority or as part of a unity government.
Like past elections, the results suggest that Israeli Jews have become more conservative and reflect a slight majority.
If Eisenkot prevails, he plans to stabilize the country. The New York Times reports that he would end attempts to annex Judea/Samaria (a.k.a. the West Bank) and crack down on violent settlers. He does not see creation of a two-state solution in the near future, which may not be workable, anyway. Even the so-called Palestinians recognize that an Eisenkot-led government would improve their lives.
Also on Eisenkot’s agenda is creation of a constitution, which has not been attempted since the Knesset was first formed in 1948 or 1949; drafting the ultra-Orthodox; term limits for prime ministers; and mandating math, English and science in both public and religious schools.
What more could anyone in Israel or America expect? If expats were allowed absentee ballots, Eisenkot’s plans would not be academic a few days after Tuesday’s election.
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Bruce S. Ticker is a Philadelphia-based columnist.