Thousands fly home to have say in tight Israeli election

Among the crowds in the arrivals hall at Ben Gurion Airport today, it wasn't hard to spot those who have flown home for tomorrows’s Israeli general election.

Some had been backpacking across Europe and Asia - and timed their return for the vote.

"It's been a long flight, but I'm happy to be here," one woman told me.

"I don't want to share [who I’m voting for], but I will say that I hope that there will be a difference than what we have now in the country."

Israel doesn’t allow most of its citizens to vote from abroad.

With very few exceptions, such as diplomats, those who want a say have to be in the country on polling day.

More than 70,000 people have signed up with Fly and Vote, an initiative encouraging Israelis abroad to come home to cast their ballot.

"We need to change the government and we hope for a better future," said a man who flew in from New York.

Many of those returning share a common complaint: how Israel is now seen abroad.

"The minute you say you’re from Israel, it’s like, okay, bye, I’ll see you later," said one man who arrived from Bali after 17 hours of travel.

"Nobody asks people from Iran what they think about their government. Nobody asks people in Russia what they think about Putin.

"Israel should be part of the world, not against the world," he said.

They are travelling so far in part because this election could come down to a handful of seats.

In the final polls published before Friday’s blackout, neither Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc nor the opposition parties lined up behind his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, came close to the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.

That could hand the balance of power to parties that have spent most of Israel’s history on the sidelines.

Arab citizens make up around a fifth of Israel’s population. Their parties are polling at around 14 seats.

"I think for Arab citizens, it’s an existential election," said Mauricio Lapchik, a campaign director for the Joint List, a political alliance of Arab-majority political parties in Israel.

Turnout among Arab voters was just over half at the last election, in 2022. He expects it to reach at least 70% this time.

"It will be impossible to ignore the voice of the 20% of the population," he said.

Mr Eisenkot has ruled out bringing Arab parties into government unless they meet a series of conditions, including recognising Hamas as a terrorist organisation.

He has not, however, ruled out relying on their support from outside it.

Mr Lapchik called those conditions "another way to say that we do not want Arabs in the coalition".

But he said his party would still work with the opposition "in different ways" to stop what he called "Netanyahu-Ben-Gvir-Smotrich", in reference to the prime minister and his far-right partners in government.

Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party has framed the choice before voters as "right or Palestine" - a slogan designed to strike terror into those on the right who fear that the left-wing partners would recognise a Palestinian state.

"If you give me the choice between right and Palestine, I would choose Palestine time and again," Mr Lapchik told RTÉ News.

"We will always choose peace between Israel and Palestine."

Asked whether Hamas was a terrorist organisation, he said: "I can say personally that it is."

In Bnei Brak, the ultra-Orthodox city just east of Tel Aviv, the fears run in the opposite direction.

For decades, ultra-Orthodox men studying in religious seminaries, known as yeshivas, haven’t had to serve in the army.

In 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that the army must begin drafting them, and Mr Eisenkot has promised an equal draft for all.

Asked what mattered most to him on Tuesday, one man there didn’t hesitate.

"That the left doesn’t get in," he told RTÉ News.

His biggest fear is the draft.

"Many Haredim who went in as Haredim came out as not Haredim," he said, using the Hebrew term for the ultra-Orthodox.

Back at the airport, one man said Israelis abroad were "voting with their feet" by returning home.

"I have friends who came specifically for two days to vote and they’re going back," he said.

Whether it’s enough to make a difference, Israelis will find out on Tuesday night - or, if it’s as close as the polls suggest, some days later.