Overseas Israelis mobilise for 'change' in election that could end Netanyahu era

Thousands of Israelis from overseas are flying into the country to vote for a “change” of government and end Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s time in office, voters have told The National.

There has been a huge surge in overseas arrivals, with an estimated 67,000 Israelis living in the US and Europe having entered the country to vote in Tuesday’s election.

This 25 per cent surge above the figures expected could well have a dramatic impact in a very tight election, with their numbers accounting for the equivalent of two seats in the 120-seat Knesset.

“We may disagree on what needs to change but we all on the flight agreed that it needs to change and that 20 years of the current leadership has been ineffective and counterproductive,” said Ben, who had just flown in from Maryland, in the US.

“You see so many people coming in from overseas, and you don't cross the world if you're happy with the current outcome. You're motivated because you are unhappy.”

The American-Israeli, who did not want to give his last name, said he works in the travel sector and has been closely watching the numbers coming into Tel Aviv. “Passenger loads in the week leading up to the election are just astronomical – you would think it's tourist season and it's not. This is the off season.”

Show caption: Likud leader and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Reuters

The flight The National took from London to Tel Aviv on Thursday had a week earlier been just over half full, the seat bookings showed, but by take-off it was fully booked. While there were many orthodox Jews, the majority were secular Israelis, and it is understood this is causing deep concern in the Netanyahu camp.

In part, that is because Israelis outside the country have been exposed to the widespread international unease at Israel’s actions in Gaza, where 74,000 people have been killed in the last three years.

That followed the October 7 Hamas killings in which more than 1,200 Israelis died, many of them in the town of Sederot, where on Friday you could still hear gunfire. The distant ruins of Gaza, where there is supposed to be a ceasefire, are also visible.

Show caption: People sit amid ruins in central Gaza. AFP

It is unclear what impact that major security lapse will have on Mr Netanyahu’s vote share but it is apparent that those flying in from abroad want a new approach.

“These elections now are very critical, and it's really important that we change the government and make a change in Israel … especially after what happened in the last few years, since October 7,” said Shirley Segal, whose brother had just flown in from the US.

She agreed that Mr Netanyahu had failed the country “big time” and that it was “very sad what happened in Gaza”.

“But we need to find a way to live next to Gaza,” she added.

Change is required, said her brother Danny Segal, because Israel needs “a different direction, a different understanding of what this country needs to look like in the next five, 10, 20 years”.

He believes current policies threaten the idea of a Jewish homeland in Israel. “I don't know if we would be around for the next 10, 15, 20, or forever” on the current trajectory, he said.

“We need it to be diverse and strong, and that's one of the reasons that I came to vote.” Israelis must learn to live with Palestinians because “we have to, there are no two ways about it”, he said.

“We are surrounded by Arab countries, so we need to understand what they need. We need to coexist in this neighbourhood”.

But Mr Segal, who will vote for the centre-right party of former prime minister Naftali Bennett, suggested that, given the October 7 attacks, “it will take a bit of time before we can see a Palestinian state”.