A row over Israelis living abroad who plan to return to vote in the October 27 election spilled into the open over the weekend.
It began with a Friday column by Makor Rishon editor-in-chief Kalman Libeskind, who argued that Israelis who have permanently moved abroad should think twice before flying back to help choose the country’s next government.
His column came as Fly&Vote, an initiative of the AID Coalition, says some 31,000 Israelis abroad have already registered with the project. The group hopes eventually to help bring as many as 70,000 voters to Israel for Election Day.
Most Israelis cannot vote from abroad. Unless they fall into one of a small number of exceptions, they have to be physically in Israel to cast a ballot.
Fly&Vote says it helps Israelis overseas check their eligibility and arrange travel. It says it does not ask participants which party they support.
Bringing voters back an 'immoral project,' says Kan Radio host
Libeskind, who also hosts a daily radio show on KAN Radio, wrote under the headline, “Yordim who intend to come to Israel to vote in the elections are brazen people.”
The word “yordim” – literally “those who descend” – is commonly used for Israelis who leave the country and settle abroad.
Libeskind called the effort to bring such voters back an “immoral project.”
“Whoever doesn’t live here shouldn’t decide how we live here,” he wrote.
His argument was straightforward: people who have built permanent lives elsewhere will not live with the day-to-day consequences of the government they help elect, including its decisions on security, the economy, and military service.
He made a point of excluding Israelis who are abroad temporarily for work, studies, or similar reasons. He also said his criticism was about principle, rather than law, and would apply whether the returning voters were expected to support the Right or the Left.
Opposition MKs push back
Reactions came quickly.
Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak accused Libeskind of applying a double standard and pointed to previous elections in which haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Israelis living abroad were encouraged to return to Israel to vote.
“What suddenly changed?” Beliak asked.
He argued that there had been far less outrage when overseas voters were thought likely to support haredi or right-wing parties.
Beliak also claimed that tens of thousands of haredim had returned from the United States in earlier elections. That figure has not been independently verified.
Democrats MK Naama Lazimi focused on another group: Israelis living abroad who returned after October 7 to serve in the reserves.
“For him, it’s okay that they die for the country, but absolutely not that they vote here,” Lazimi wrote.
Her response went to the heart of the criticism of Libeskind’s column. Many Israelis who live abroad still serve in the IDF, have close family in Israel, pay taxes and own homes here, or remain deeply involved in Israeli life.
Democratic MK Gilad Kariv also criticized Libeskind, accusing him of hypocrisy and rejecting the idea that one commentator should decide who has earned the moral right to vote.
Eyal Naveh, a founder of Brothers and Sisters in Arms, pointed to the role Israelis abroad played in the weeks after October 7, including raising money, sending equipment, and returning to serve.
A fight inside Kan
The argument also became personal inside KAN.
KAN Europe correspondent Dov Gil-Har challenged Libeskind publicly, noting that KAN had sent him abroad and that his daughter serves in the IDF.
Gil-Har wrote that he felt he had to return to Israel and vote, and asked Libeskind whether he believed someone in his situation should do so.
Libeskind answered that Gil-Har was exactly the kind of Israeli his column had excluded.
“My dear Dovi, it is recommended to first read the column and only then respond to it,” he wrote, repeating that he was talking about Israelis who had moved abroad permanently.
Journalist Yair Kraus later came to Libeskind’s defense, saying critics had ignored that distinction.
Why the numbers matter
The argument has caught fire partly because the numbers are large enough to matter.
Fly&Vote grew out of networks formed during the 2023 protests against the government’s judicial overhaul.
The AID Coalition says the project is nonpartisan and does not collect information about how participants intend to vote.
Its goal of bringing 70,000 Israelis back for Election Day has drawn attention in a race where relatively small shifts in turnout could influence the final distribution of Knesset seats.
That is why Libeskind’s Friday column quickly swelled into something larger.
For his supporters, the issue is simple: people who permanently leave Israel should have less say over choices whose consequences will be carried mainly by those who still live here.
His critics say citizenship does not disappear at Ben-Gurion Airport, and neither do military service, family ties, or a sense of responsibility for the country.
With thousands of Israelis abroad now making plans to return for the October 27 vote, the argument is unlikely to end with a single column.