Israelis living in U.S., other countries spend thousands to fly in to vote in crucial election: “My civic duty”

October 27, 2026 / 12:21 PM EDT / CBS News

With a consequential election in Israel Tuesday, tens of thousands of Israelis living abroad have flown in just to cast their ballots.

Ronnie Teram Gil-Ad left Israel for the U.S. with her family a year ago. She shelled out about $3,000 to come back to vote.

"It is my country. The fact that I'm living abroad doesn't mean that this is not my home here. We wanna make a difference," she said.

Gil-Ad, who will fly back to Boston Tuesday night, will have been in Israel for just 36 hours.

"This is my civic duty," she said. And she's not alone.

Another voter, Yael Natra, told The Associated Press she spent thousands of dollars to travel from Toronto to Tel Aviv to be in the country to cast a ballot. It's the first time in the two decades since she left Israel for Canada that she felt she needed to vote in her home country's elections.

"The Israel that I grew up in is disappearing," she said in an interview from Toronto, citing an eroding democracy and deeply divided society. "If something won't change this time, I don't know what's…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/