Should Israelis living abroad be able to vote in Israeli elections and referenda?

• Published in: The Jerusalem report p. 56
• Main Authors: Pollack, Eli, Galnoor, Itzhak
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Jerusalem Jerusalem Report 28.02.2000
• Subjects: Pollak, Eli
• ISSN: 0792-6049

Israel, like every democracy, accords voting rights to its citizens regardless of where they reside. But democracies do not necessarily extend voting facilities to their citizens who reside abroad. In fact, most of them do not, the reason being tremendous technical difficulties - for example, how to apply financing regulations to campaigns abroad or how to prevent forgeries. Furthermore, it's safe to assume that no country would allow absentee balloting if, say, 5 percent of its electorate resided abroad. Because the issues to be determined here are indeed existential, Israel has a right to demand of its voters a certain level of ongoing commitment. After all, sensitivity is high on these issues, and the decisive margin could be small. Just imagine the reaction if the outcome of the Golan referendum were to be determined by the external vote - or, for that matter, if Israelis living abroad had tipped the scales of the close 1996 election against Benjamin Netanyahu and in favor of Shimon Peres! I suspect that those who support the absentee ballot for the Golan referendum would not be so generous if the referendum were, say, on recognizing the Reform movement in Israel. In fact, I believe the new interest in extending voting facilities was born of the assumption that it will increase the ranks of the opposition to returning the Golan. The referendum on the Golan is particularly problematic because the citizens of one country (Israel) are going to determine the status of a territory that, according to international law, belongs to another (Syria). If Israelis living abroad are allowed to vote in it, shouldn't at least the pre-1967 Golan residents be asked their opinion as well? What's more, I do not recall that Israeli citizens were asked to approve the settlement there or the Golan Heights law in 1981.