Likud threatens legal action against initiative to bring Israelis abroad back to vote

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party threatened legal action on Sunday against the AID Coalition, an organization running an initiative to help Israeli citizens return home to vote in the October 27 national election. In a letter to the Central Elections Committee, Likud accused the group of operating illegally and violating party financing laws. Israel does not permit absentee voting, except for diplomats and state emissaries, meaning citizens must be physically present in the country to cast their ballots. The AID Coalition maintains it is a non-partisan organization that does not endorse candidates or cover travel costs for participants. The move follows reports in Haaretz suggesting that associates of Transportation Minister Miri Regev, a key Netanyahu ally, had discussed limiting flights into Ben Gurion Airport ahead of the election to potentially suppress the arrival of voters opposed to the current government. Studies have indicated that many Israelis living abroad lean toward the political left, a factor observers believe is driving Likud’s efforts to thwart the initiative.