Comments on: Well-timed absentee voting bill – a blow to Israeli democracy

By: Kolumn9

Kolumn9 — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:20:37 +0000

Ugh. I’ve gotta pay more attention when using different nicknames.

By: Kolumn9

Kolumn9 — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:19:53 +0000

Sh, I have no idea how I would reverse my position. There is simply no logical basis for denying Israeli citizens in New York the vote because Israel controls parts of the West Bank. The whole discussion of the occupation and the lack of recognized borders is a red herring.
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The subject of this piece is going to be relevant going forwards because the proposal to grant expats the right to vote is going to continue to be proposed until it passes. I wouldn’t even be surprised if the current government passes it.

By: sh

sh — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:31:25 +0000

“Sh, that Israel is occupying whatever you think it is occupying has no impact on the presumed rights of expatriate Israelis to vote in an election.”
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Reverse that and you’ll be onto something. There aren’t too many countries allowing foreign residents to vote that don’t have recognized borders. There are also not that many countries the leaders of which announce a general election date to their population and within 24 hours rescind it, come to think of it. By the time the election does come around the subject of this piece is unlikely to still be relevant.

By: Rodrigo

Rodrigo — Mon, 07 May 2012 23:26:04 +0000

Sh, that Israel is occupying whatever you think it is occupying has no impact on the presumed rights of expatriate Israelis to vote in an election. The two things are unrelated. It is like arguing that an American war veteran of Afghanistan should have no right to vote when he goes to study abroad in Paris for a semester.
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Again, the only real opposition that any of you can summon to allowing expat Israelis to vote abroad is that you don’t think they will vote for the parties you like. There is no reason to pretend that expats are not going to skew right, but there is also no argument that can possibly be legitimately offered for why that should make a difference.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:16:32 +0000

“…most Israelis serve in the military, many have put their lives on the line for Israel, and some have even returned from overseas to fight in wars. For example, I know someone who’s uncle moved to Canada to be close to his grandchildren. However, his uncle also served in Lebanon and took shrapnel to his gut.” Whether this guy should be able to vote can be argued over, but unintentionally this statement suggests a LOT about what is problematic about Israel. Israel has bombed so many Arab countries over the past fifty years that this kind of overly militarized notion of the “good” citizen, the one that lives abroad but should be able to vote, is more telling of potential threats to democracy than the absentee ballot voting.

By: Al Sheber

Al Sheber — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:29:41 +0000

Many Israelis who reside overseas, had or obtained another citizenship, some did not renew their Israeli passport because they cannot travel or have no reason to go to Israel, who can figure which one is real and whose vote is legit? Additionally, those who do not have present roots in Israel, (few relatives, no property, no friends) may not have the same considerations in voting as those who live and contribute to the well being of the state, therefore I am not sure that granting Israelis who gave up on Israel the right to influence the future of Israel is a solid concept. Perhaps, some of the great minds of academia could create a case showing how positive this vote will be and how to insure that it is not a wholesale job of vote buying which is so popular in various countries.

By: Mitchell Cohen

Mitchell Cohen — Mon, 07 May 2012 07:33:02 +0000

@Alethe,

I used to think the same way. However, after much soul searching I realized that, unlike most other countries (including Australia, correct me if I am wrong), most Israelis serve in the military, many have put their lives on the line for Israel, and some have even returned from overseas to fight in wars. For example, I know someone who’s uncle moved to Canada to be close to his grandchildren. However, his uncle also served in Lebanon and took shrapnel to his gut. Somebody like him shouldn’t have the right to vote in Israeli elections? In my book, he has CLEARLY earned his right.

By: alethe

alethe — Mon, 07 May 2012 03:20:13 +0000

In Australia although citizens can vote if they are abroad, they can not vote if they are resident abroad for more than 12 months. I agree with this as if you’ve chosen to make your home elsewhere you shouldn’t have the same say in the way the country is government.

I think absentee voting is fair and appropriate if it only applies to citizens who are residents.

By: Cortez

Cortez — Sun, 06 May 2012 12:51:34 +0000

I was going to so that unfortunately the rabbinate conception and the law of return’s conception of who is Jewish are one of several interpretations. In this day there shoulnt be a religious litmus test when all descendent of Jews should be accepted as equals.

By: Mitchell Cohen

Mitchell Cohen — Sun, 06 May 2012 11:17:50 +0000

I REALLY don’t understand why allowing ex-pats to vote at this point would be a “calculating” move on the current government’s part when

1) Bibi is enjoying popularity, according to surveys, which show him trouncing Yacomovich and Lieberman, the leaders of the two parties predicted to receive the next largest number of votes after Likud and

2) there is NO evidence that allowing ex-pats to vote would slew the election outcome to the right. On the contrary, it seems most (but not all) Israeli ex-pats leave Israel because they are disconcerted with the country. I would think that ex-pats voting would be more likely to slew the outcome to the left. At the very least, the ex-pats voting patterns would probably mimick that of the general Israeli population, other than there being less religious and Arab-Israelis in the mix.