It is ,certainly, not the first time I am out of Israel on elections day. My first time was in 2006, when I was in Nigeria. We were living a flight distance away from Nigeria's capital city of Abuja, where Israeli citizens on governmental duties were allowed to practice their democratic duty and vote in an Israeli embassy. It seemed extremely important to me at the time to vote and make a difference, I was willing to pay any price and go through major obstacles to contribute my vote to what I believed should make a difference in Israeli reality, which is my home, and lives of people like myself. In Israel, in contrast to USSR, I was taught democratic values, that every vote counts and is important. I was also taught that not voting means giving away your vote to the opponent. Driven by all this motivation, accompanied by my 2 years old son, I have made it! I have made it despite all dangers and obstacles imposed on me by Nigerian reality! Oh boy...., only today I actually fully understand how genuinely potentially dangerous that trip was. I felt proud to be able to make a difference...
Last Israeli elections have already found me in NZ and this time around I couldn't vote anymore, as I am just an immigrant, even though, holding Israeli citizenship. Despite being preoccupied with new immigrant's issues, such as settling down in a new country, I remember how "glued" I was to all Israeli media outlets and how well I knew all the details of the candidates and I have, indeed, had my solid opinion of whom I would vote for. The despair of not being able to make a difference (or so I believed) this time was huge...
Interestingly enough, this inability to vote for Israeli elections, provoked an urge in me to learn and connect to the basics of politics and Parliamentary system in my new home country of NZ. I have started satisfying this need by a visit to NZ Parliament in Wellington. I would really warmly recommend this to all you, new "Kiwis-to be". Their guided tours there are giving a very good start to understanding the system, which is quite different from Israeli one. Shortly followed NZ parliamentary elections....Yesss, I have the right to vote again!!!!!!! I have the right to contribute to a change in my new Home country!!! As absurd as it may sound to some of you, the realization of it made me feel a lot more at home in this wonderful place, which already had accredited me with the power to influence its reality.
Today Israel is going to vote, going to decide for its future, going to make a choice.Optimists among us are those who still believe that a real choice is going to be made today, that there are actually alternatives to choose from...I, on the other side, feel myself very distanced and un-engaged today. I feel that the gap between me and my mother land is growing bigger, I even don't laugh that much anymore from Israeli pre- elections satiric shows, I feel more like crying...Judging by many posts and comments on social networks and media, I find myself being relieved that this time I don't need to make a choice. I also don't feel that I could significantly contribute or make a skilled decision this time. The reasons for that are mixed and my feelings about this are even more mixed. It is the lack of a real leader who would clearly show the way and make people go after him, it is the frustration of people and decisions driven by anger and hopelessness, but it is also me...I feel that I have no moral right to influence on the future of a country that I have chosen not to live in. This is not to say that I don't love Israel anymore or love it less. I ,absolutely, love it, but like every relationship is at times, ours is complicated at the moment...
P.S. Few days ago Israeli representatives of the "Jewish agency" held pseudo Israeli elections here, in NZ, for the Jewish community. The results were quite shocking comparing to what is expected to really happen in Israel.
I know that one may argue that the sample wasn't representative of a community. Not many people, indeed, showed up, due to cyclone Pam fears, or maybe some of the people felt like me, that it is morally incorrect... Looking at the graph made me wonder: Isn't this one of the reasons why we have chosen to live away from Home? Don't we feel at times that the political situation there doesn't represent us?....
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