Likud inks compromise with Israeli expat voter effort; 53,000 said planning to fly in for election

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party withdrew a suit against an initiative that aims to fly Israeli expatriates into the country for Election Day, under a compromise brokered on Tuesday by Justice Noam Sohlberg, the chair of the Central Elections Committee.

Likud had appealed against Fly&Vote, run by a group called the AID Coalition, which aims to help Israeli citizens living abroad return to the country and cast ballots in the October 27 election. Israel does not allow absentee voting, with the exception of diplomats and emissaries posted around the world. Eligible citizens aged 18 and older who live abroad can vote if they are in Israel on Election Day.

The group said in a statement that some 53,000 Israelis are preparing to fly to Israel ahead of October 27 to vote, a number that could shift the outcome of the closely fought campaign.

Under the agreement, the AID Coalition will not subsidize plane tickets or defray their cost in any way, and will not organize any additional flights beyond the six it is advertising. The ticket price for the six flights that were already organized would remain at market rates set by the airlines.

As part of the compromise, the group will also pay NIS 10,000 ($3,284) in Likud’s legal fees.

Likud has fought against efforts to bring in expatriate voters, presumably based on the assumption that most will support opposition parties. It claimed in its court filings that the AID Coalition was running afoul of laws against providing benefits to Israelis to sway their vote. Sohlberg highlighted those laws at Tuesday’s discussion, according to Hebrew media reports.

Likud attorney Ilan Bombach argued, according to the reports, that the initiative was being operated by a “foreign corporation,” and claimed that it was coordinating efforts to “encourage Israelis who live at the ends of the earth to come to Israel on Election Day or close to it so they can vote, by way of providing ‘logistical support'” including arranging flights, lowering costs and offering “additional services or benefits before and after their arrival in Israel.”

The AID Coalition describes itself on social media as a “US-based nonpartisan nonprofit strengthening Israeli democracy through civic initiatives and hands-on impact.”

The group has its roots in the 2023 protests against the Netanyahu government’s judicial overhaul. But it asserts that it is non-partisan, “does not endorse any candidate or party,” and that it does not cover any travel costs.