With a little over a week remaining until election day in Israel, the streets of Tel Aviv are humming with hope and fear.
asserted
streets → remain → hope
In this bastion of progressive Zionism, there is hope that maybe, just maybe, Israelis will reject Benjamin Netanyahu on October 27.
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Israelis → be → October
But there is also fear that the great survivor of Israeli politics will somehow find a way to overcome the odds and cling to power yet again.
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survivor → be → power
The latest polls show the pro- and anti-Netanyahu party blocs evenly matched, heightening expectations of a tight result.
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blocs → show → result
Australian-Israeli voters such as Nirit Eylon have spent at least $2000 on plane tickets to travel around the world to cast a ballot, reflecting their view that this is one of the most important elections of their lifetimes.
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this → spend → lifetimes
The long journey is necessary because Israel does not allow any pre-poll or absentee voting: you must be physically present in the country on election day to participate (unless you are a diplomat or member of the military stationed overseas).
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you → allow → military
Eylon, a former professional swimming coach, emigrated from Israel in 2006 after falling in love with Australia during a work visit.
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Eylon → emigrate → visit
She has not participated in an Israeli election since she moved, but is travelling from her home in Melbourne to Tel Aviv to vote this year.
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she → participate → Aviv
“I feel like we have reached a critical turning point,” says Eylon, president of Hatikvah Australia, a left-wing Jewish association that participates in the World Zionist Congress.
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that → feel → Congress
She says it is time for Netanyahu, who was first elected prime minister in 1996 and has been in power for most of the past two decades, to be sent into retirement, and for his far-right coalition partners Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich to be kicked out of government.
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partners → say → government
“We can’t let someone like Bibi stay in power because we know that when people stay in power for too long, they become corrupted,” she says, using Netanyahu’s nickname.
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she → let → nickname
“This government is not only affecting what’s happening in Israel.
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what → affect → Israel
It’s affecting Israelis overseas, Jewish people overseas.
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It → affect → Israelis
If we want to go back to normality, part of it is to get Israel back on track.”
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part → want → track
For the first time since moving to Australia, Eylon knows of many Israelis returning to the country to vote.
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Israelis → move → country
The America-Israel Democracy Coalition estimates that around 53,000 of the 600,000 Israelis living abroad will fly in for election day — more than usual.
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53,000 → estimate → day
One of them is Sydney tech entrepreneur Ayal Steiner, 50, who is travelling to vote in his first Israel election since moving to Australia 18 years ago.
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who → travel → Australia
“This is an election for the soul of the country,” says Steiner, who was born in the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
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who → say → Haifa
The expat vote could add up to almost two seats in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament — no small thing if the result is closely divided.
uncertain
result → add → Knesset
Elections have led to several deadlocks in the past few years; there were five elections between 2019 and the most recent in 2022.
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Elections → lead → 2022
Like Eylon, Steiner believes this election will have ramifications not just for Israel but the world.
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election → believe → Israel
The Australian Jewish community has suffered a surge in antisemitism since the October 7 attacks of 2023 and the devastating war in Gaza, which has seen Israel accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice.
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Israel → suffer → Justice
Even as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continued without resolution, Steiner says Israel’s global brand was associated with its success at advanced technology and innovation.
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brand → continue → technology
“Since October 7, being Israeli has become a radioactive term,” he says.
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he → become → October
“Some people hide their identity now, but I don’t.
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I → hide → identity
A Pew research poll released in June found that 79 per cent of Australians have an unfavourable view of Israel, making them among the most critical in the world.
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them → release → world
After three years of the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, Steiner hopes the next government will turn down the temperature.
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government → hop → temperature
“I am not foolish enough to think there is any chance of peace in the near future, but I want to nudge the country to the centre rather than the right,” he says.
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he → think → centre
He is weighing up which opposition leader has the best chance of defeating Netanyahu; he is most likely to vote for either former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot or former prime minister Naftali Bennett.
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he → weigh → Eisenkot
“They don’t have delusions of expansion, but they are hardliners on security needs and that’s the sort of neighbourhood we are in.
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we → have → neighbourhood
While some voters may travel from Australia to Israel to support Netanyahu or his coalition partners, the consensus in the Jewish community is that the vast majority want a change of government.
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majority → travel → government
Netanyahu certainly thinks the influx of expats will hurt him: his Likud party unsuccessfully sued to block the America-Israel Democracy Coalition’s Fly & Vote initiative, which is running charter flights to help Israelis travel from overseas to vote.
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Israelis → think → flights
The leftward tilt of the diaspora contrasts to Israeli society itself, which has become more conservative, religious and hawkish in recent decades.
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which → contrast → decades
The clash between these two visions of Israel was visible when activist influencers supporting Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir showed up at an anti-government rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, aiming to goad their opponents into arguments they could upload to generate social media engagement.
uncertain
they → support → engagement
Esther Takac, a psychologist and filmmaker from Melbourne, has travelled to Israel with husband Robert to vote in her first election since 1992, when Labor’s Yitzhak Rabin was pursuing peace with the Palestinians.
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Rabin → travel → Palestinians
She plans to vote for the left-wing Democrats – the only mainstream Jewish party advocating a two-state solution.
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She → plan → solution
“We want to get this extremist government out, we want to get Netanyahu out,” she says.
“We feel this government is taking Israel into a totally wrong direction, making it more nationalistic, militaristic, religious.
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it → want → direction
This government is betraying the values that Israel was founded on.”
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Israel → betray → that
Takac laments that, since October 7, Australians’ views of Israel have been shaped largely by footage of the Israeli military pummelling Gaza, settler violence in the West Bank and Ben-Gvir taunting detained pro-Palestinian activists.
“There’s a whole other nuanced, more humane, more complex side of Israeli society that I think is important for people to see,” she says.
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she → lament → society
Her most recent documentaries have explored Israel’s anti-government protest movement and the personal toll of the conflict on Israelis and Palestinians.
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documentaries → explore → Israelis
…and 11 more, not listed.
The Aporia
