Move for absentee voting prompts fire across the political spectrum

I think, at the very least, DOMESTIC absentee ballots should be allowed. If someone must travel abroad on election day, why can't s/he vote? If someone is homebound (by, for example, illness or physical disability), why shouldn't s/he be allowed to vote? I think allowing Israelis who live abroad the democratic right to vote (especially since some of them actually pay Israeli taxes) seems fair. But certainly those living here who can't make it to the polls for whatever reason (even laziness!) should be allowed to vote.

Israelis ? Keep us from voting while living abroad or residing abroad. Before I made Aliya I always thought that all Jews in order to be Jewish must also have an Israeli identity card and an Israeli passport. I changed that naive view to believing that every Jew must own an Israeli Bond so that his personal economic future had a stake in the well-being and safety of the Jewish state. Before I immigrated I believed that Diaspora Jews should restrain their influence in the democracy and polity of Israel issues. The Diaspora could write and debate about it, but only those whose lives are on the line should have any direct involvement in Israel?s democratic choices. After becoming an Israeli I now believe that I should not have been given the rights of the law of return because I came from the rich WEST and could easily return to the USA if I did not ?make it? in Israel. Israel was built by Jews who had no choice of any ?return!? Half of all American Jews who make Aliya return to the States. Only necessity and extremity are creative and inventive. It is the discriminated Jews that created and continue to create the State of Israel in large numbers. The WEST does not have large numbers in Israel. Thos Israelis who left to live in the Goldene Medina should not be trusted with the future of the Jewish state by giving them an absentee vote in the future of the State. The US is a resource to be used by those oppressed elsewhere. Israel is not a resource for oppressed Israelis pleasantly living in the USA. Being a Jew in Israel is precarious; being an Israeli in the USA with a green card or an American passport, is not precarious or life threatening. The many Israelis I know living in the USA who love Israel come back to Israel to vote. They understand. Most Israelis living in the USA worry more about their pocket books than they do about the Jewish State. The same is true about more than 80% of American Jews: they care more about their pocket books and their immediate families than they do about anything else and certainly more than they care about the Jewish State. Only 20% of American Jews have visited Israel. Israelis living abroad must come home to vote and not be entrusted to defend the constantly threatened Jewish State. Americans living abroad should vote abroad because America plays a role for Jews that Israel might someday achieve when she becomes a superpower and the last great hope of humanity. When that day comes not only should, Israelis and Jews as well, but all the Diaspora be able to vote with an absentee ballot.

What would you know? You vote in SWITZERLAND. You are not an Israeli citizens so even if the bill passes you will still not be able to vote in Israel.

....would definitely rejoice. And as we all know (not only, but also from Haaretz TB), there are plenty of them around on this planet, they are surely no species threatened by extinction...:)

Israelis ? Keep us from voting while living abroad or residing abroad. Before I made Aliya I always thought that all Jews in order to be Jewish must also have an Israeli identity card and an Israeli passport. I changed that naive view to believing that every Jew must own an Israeli Bond so that his personal economic future had a stake in the well-being and safety of the Jewish state. Before I immigrated I believed that Diaspora Jews should restrain their influence in the democracy and polity of Israel issues. The Diaspora could write and debate about it, but only those whose lives are on the line should have any direct involvement in Israel?s democratic choices. After becoming an Israeli I now believe that I should not have been given the rights of the law of return because I came from the rich WEST and could easily return to the USA if I did not ?make it? in Israel. Israel was built by Jews who had no choice of any ?return!? Half of all American Jews who make Aliya return to the States. Only necessity and extremity are creative and inventive. It is the discriminated Jews that created and continue to create the State of Israel in large numbers. The WEST does not have large numbers in Israel. Thos Israelis who left to live in the Goldene Medina should not be trusted with the future of the Jewish state by giving them an absentee vote in the future of the State. The US is a resource to be used by those oppressed elsewhere. Israel is not a resource for oppressed Israelis pleasantly living in the USA. Being a Jew in Israel is precarious; being an Israeli in the USA with a green card or an American passport, is not precarious or life threatening. The many Israelis I know living in the USA who love Israel come back to Israel to vote. They understand. Most Israelis living in the USA worry more about their pocket books than they do about the Jewish State. The same is true about more than 80% of American Jews: they care more about their pocket books and their immediate families than they do about anything else and certainly more than they care about the Jewish State. Only 20% of American Jews have visited Israel. Israelis living abroad must come home to vote and not be entrusted to defend the constantly threatened Jewish State. Americans living abroad should vote abroad because America plays a role for Jews that Israel might someday achieve when she becomes a superpower and the last great hope of humanity. When that day comes not only should, Israelis and Jews as well, but all the Diaspora be able to vote with an absentee ballot.

All Israeli citizens should have the right to vote in their countries election no matter where they are currently staying. Livni talks alot about how she is a big fan of democracy but when it comes to proving that through example she calls a no confidence motion to try stop it. I was originally from the UK but made alliyah 10 years ago but I am still registered for postal votes in all British elections. General election European election. I feel that even though I no longer live in the UK as a native citizen of the country I sill have a duty to vote. Voting should not be compulsory but it should be considered a duty because democracy is something that for centuries people have fought to achieve and we would be alot unhappier without it.

1. It will reduce the relative strength of the Arab-Israeli vote. 2. Coalition building will be easier due to point #1. 3. Judea and Samaria can be annexed since the teh number of Jews demographically influencing the country will grow significantly.

We don't have enough hot issues, so let's add another. I have mixed feelings about this. We vote in the American national elections, but the absentee ballots are rarely ever used, and they comprise but a very small percentage of the eligible voters. As for Israeli expatriates, there may be more living outside Israel than living here! Their votes would count, but should they? We're not talking of a country of 300,000,000 million people where the absentee ballots mean almost nothing. Israel is a tiny little country with a small population. Are those outside the country paying any taxes here? Do they have any real loyalty? It's not a simple matter.

#2 is right. It is the right thing to do, although my big worry is the lunatic right extremists and aging HillTop Youth living abroad who may push our country towards self destruction. Fortunately many of these lunatic extremists got military exemption based on psychiatric evaluations and may not be allowed to vote. At any rate let's hope the sanity of NIF and JStreet activists can hold them in line and keep us from turning into a Mini-Iran. As far as normal right-left, secular and religous differences, dialogue and discourse that is important to respect and maintain. After all that is the heart and soul of a truly democratic and pluaralistic society and the kind of Zionism I grew up on.

The electoral system needs to be changed befoire you can even think of absentee voting. There should also be a time limit for how long you can vote without having lived in Israel. What does someone who's been gone for 10 or 20 years know about today's politics?

Ultimately, all Jews (globally) will be allowed to vote in national elections. It will be the only solution to maintain the "Jewish" nature of Israel against an expanding Palestinian population, especially after the one state solution is forced on Israel for expropriating too much WB land. The joke is that Israel will be the only country in the world where the ruling majority does not actually live in the country it controls.

and said, "SCREW THIS, i'm going back home!"

Yes, I see it now. Jews will claim Israeli citizenship enmass, get Israeli passports, and vote in the elections of 2020. We'd better hope nobody invents a wayback machine....

How can Lieberman reconcile this policy with his election cry of 'no loyalty, no citizenship'? The ultimate disloyalty, to abandon the country, will be rewarded with the ability to make decisions for those who live here?! Once again Yvette and Bibi show their betrayal of true Zionism, as they continue their smear campaign against Israel.

My big worry is over all the "Peace" Now/J Street/NIF crazies living in the States... nevertheless I still think it's the right thing to do.