Israel Matzav: We're not the United States

We're not the United States

Prime Minister Netanyahu says he will support a bill introduced by Yisrael Beiteinu that would allow Israelis living abroad to vote (today, only foreign ministry staff and IDF soldiers posted abroad are allowed to vote without returning to Israel). Even though I vote in the United States while living in Israel, I disagree with allowing people who live in the United States and other countries to vote in Israel.

Here are three reasons why:

1. Israel faces an existential and never-ending conflict. Israelis who live abroad have escaped that conflict and vote without feeling the constant pressure cooker that we feel.

2. Americans who live abroad and vote in American elections are a small minority of American voters. They have very little effect on the outcome of most elections. By contrast, the number of Israelis living abroad could have a significant effect on the outcome of elections here just by the number of votes they would have.

3. Americans who live abroad continue to file tax returns and in some cases to pay taxes to the American government. To deny them the vote would result in taxation (or at least the potential of taxation) without representation. Israelis living abroad do not file Israeli tax returns and do not pay taxes. Not only do they not have a physical stake in what goes on here, they don't have a financial stake in it either.

There are probably more reasons for not allowing Israelis who are abroad to vote in our elections, but those are the ones I thought of off the top of my head.

Israel Matzav: We're not the United States