Israelis Abroad Begin Voting in Knesset Elections

By איתמר אייכנר

Translated & summarized from Ynet by baba

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Overseas voting for the Knesset elections began Wednesday, with Israeli diplomats in New Zealand, Fiji, and Australia casting their ballots. Over 4,800 envoys and families will vote at 99 missions worldwide, with results to be flown to Israel for counting. President Isaac Herzog visited the Israeli Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, calling the elections a "celebration of democracy" and urging citizens to participate responsibly.

The story in 6 lines · by baba

Overseas voting for the Knesset elections began Wednesday with Israeli diplomats in New Zealand.
Over 4,800 Israeli diplomats and their families are eligible to vote at 99 missions globally.
The voting abroad will conclude Friday morning on the US West Coast.
Ballots will be transported to Israel via diplomatic mail for counting.
President Isaac Herzog visited the Israeli Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, during the voting.
Herzog called the elections a "celebration of democracy" and urged responsible participation.

Israelis Abroad Begin Voting in Knesset Elections — Editorial illustration generated by baba News, not a photograph of the event.

Voting for the upcoming Knesset elections has commenced abroad, with Israeli envoys and their families casting their ballots 12 days before the general election in Israel. The first to vote were Ambassador Alon Roth-Schnir and his staff at the Israeli Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand, who submitted their ballots on Wednesday. They were followed by Ambassador Maya Yaron and her team in Fiji, and then by the Israeli Embassy in Canberra, Australia, led by Ambassador Hillel Newman.

The overseas voting process will conclude on Friday at 6 a.m. Israel time, with the final polling stations on the US West Coast, in San Francisco and Los Angeles. A total of over 4,800 Israeli diplomats and their families will participate in the vote across 99 diplomatic missions and 101 polling stations. The largest number of voters is expected in New York, while Kathmandu will have the fewest.

All ballots will be transported to Israel via diplomatic mail in a complex logistical operation managed by the Foreign Ministry and the Central Elections Committee. These votes will be counted as double envelopes alongside the votes cast by soldiers.

On Thursday morning, President Isaac Herzog visited the Israeli Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, accompanied by Ambassador Ronen Krauss. "This is a very important moment in my diplomatic visit here in Azerbaijan," Herzog stated, observing the start of the election process abroad. He described the elections as a "celebration of democracy" and urged all citizens to exercise their right to vote and influence Israel's future. "Elections are not a civil war," the President emphasized, calling them the "true process" for citizens to shape their lives and the nation's direction, especially after a challenging period for Israel.