Israel election draws overseas voters home

Israelis living abroad are flying home to vote in the October 27 election because Israel does not allow citizens overseas to cast ballots from abroad.

The vote is widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his hard-right government after nearly three years of war in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon. Polls show a tight race.

The Aid Coalition, a US-based NGO that advocates for Israeli democracy, expects more than 50,000 Israelis to travel home to vote. Its non-partisan Fly & Vote initiative gives information on polling stations and identification requirements, helps arrange travel by buying and reselling seats on commercial flights, and has in some cases chartered aircraft.

Likud, Netanyahu's party, filed a petition with Israel's Central Elections Committee in early September accusing the initiative of electoral bribery. Aid Coalition president Jonathan Barsade said the accusation had no foundation and that the NGO does not provide financial incentives.

A settlement reached last week requires the NGO to stop selling additional flights through the programme, while previously purchased tickets remain valid.

Liran Naaman, an Israeli project manager who has lived in Amsterdam for 11 years, said he spent 800 euros, nearly $900, to fly home to vote. Sylvie Lidgi, a dual French-Israeli national living in Paris, said she would vote in Israel for the first time since 1973 because the country faced a choice over its values.

Tami Giniger, a startup consultant flying from Bangkok, said the relationship between religion and state was a decisive issue for her. Ariella Hanker, a cancer research scientist in Dallas who was born in Israel, said she wanted to vote because she was worried about the future of a democratic Israel.