Should Israelis Residing Abroad Vote in Israeli Elections?

The latest brouhaha in Israel revolves around a change being proposed in the election law that would permit Israeli citizens living abroad to vote in national elections by, presumably, going to their local Israeli embassy or consulate and casting their ballots there.

The “pro” forces are saying that Israeli citizenship carries with it the right to vote, regardless of where a person may be living at the moment, while the “anti” forces are taking the position that unless a person lives here and carries the burden of his/her actions on a daily basis, the right to vote is not an inherent one transferable to any location on earth. Other “anti” forces also add their fear that because, in their opinion, so many Israelis living abroad are “right wing” politically (not something that I have found to be true, by the way), that the current government is supporting such a move in order to bolster its position in the next election.

But the entire argument misses the point. The issue at hand is really: What defines citizenship in Israel? In most democratic countries citizenship is something you carry with you from place to place so that the rights and obligations of citizenship remain with the individual regardless of where the person resides at any given moment in time. US citizens, for example, have the obligation to file US tax returns and pay the required taxes wherever they may live, that is an obligation. But they also have a right to vote in national elections wherever they may live and the two would seem to go hand in hand. Similar regulations apply to British and Danish citizens as well as those from a number of other countries as well.

Of course, much of the current criticism revolves around claims that Israelis living abroad have chosen to “opt out” and are really citizens in name only, with nothing more than a visceral connection to the country. But there are also many Israelis who are abroad during elections for other reasons. Some are traveling, some are stationed abroad temporarily by their employers to manage the operations of Israeli companies in those countries while others are studying at universities or gaining valuable international experience which they intend to take back to Israel at some time.

So, as in everything else, the issues are not black and white, but in most cases are rather gray. While Israel has never, in the past, extended the right to vote to citizens abroad, the country really is disenfranchising a large segment of the population, many of whom really are active citizens of the state.

For those of us in middle Israel, the solution is an obvious one. There should be some basic tests of active citizenship that are applied to those living abroad and wanting to vote that will legitimize their request and which request should be answered in the affirmative. These might include holding a valid Israeli passport, possessing an up to date Israeli identity card, having paid Israeli income tax as required and any other proofs of actively being a citizen of Israel, even though the person is physically domiciled abroad.

But to deny this basic right of citizenship to people living abroad out of a fear as to how they will vote or for any other similarly illogic reason makes the state guilty of “stealing” an inherent right of citizens of democratic countries and should not be permitted to continue unchallenged.

Sherwin Pomerantz
Jerusalem
February 9, 2010