28,000km to vote.

Guy Givoni

In a few days, we board a flight to Tel Aviv for one reason: to drop our ballots in a box.

I won't be alone. Around 50,000 Israelis living abroad are expected to fly home for this vote. That has never happened before.

Yes, it's a demanding journey for only several days and a hefty expense. Many may wonder: is a vote worth a stack of plane tickets and 28,000km?

Fair question. Here's my answer.

The short version: I love Israel, and I deeply care.

A quick background first, so you know where I'm coming from.

I've lived in Melbourne for 13 years. Before that, my whole life was in Israel. My family and my longest standing friendships are all still there. I changed my address. I never changed who I call first when the news breaks.

I'm a tech entrepreneur and executive. For most of my career I've taken Israeli technology to the world. Several Israeli companies, grown across every continent (well, not Antarctica yet). Over US$100 million back into the Israeli economy. That work is what brought our family to Australia. And like most Israelis, I've worn the uniform too. More on that later.

These elections are not about left or right

For decades, Israeli elections were about deep political questions. Territories. Peace. Security. One state or two. Good people disagreed. They still do.

These elections are different.

They're about whether Israel stays the country most of us grew up in. A thriving liberal democracy. "Or La'Goyim". A world leader in science, medicine, technology, space, resilience and Nobel prizes. A country with a sharp sense of humour and a stubborn optimism.

Most Jews and Israelis want all of that. I know all my friends do, regardless of left or right ideology.

October 7

Three years ago came the day that split our lives into before and after. Around 1,200 people murdered in one day. 251 taken into Gaza. On this government's watch. Those numbers live in Melbourne too. A friend from our community lost 3 family members that day, including his brother. 7 more were taken to Gaza, from a grandmother to a grandchild.

And it didn't come from nowhere. For years, this PM let Qatar send suitcases of cash into Gaza. Millions of dollars a month. The idea was to buy quiet and keep Hamas and the Palestinian Authority apart. Israel's own Shin Bet later found that this policy of quiet let Hamas's inhuman terrorists build up their military.

In a healthy democracy the leader takes responsibility. A state commission of inquiry opens. The facts come out.

Three years on, there's no state commission. The government refused one, and pushed a commission appointed by politicians instead. Endless deflection. Blame the army chiefs.

Blame the Shin Bet. Blame the protesters. Blame anyone except the man at the top.

The hostages are the part I can't get past. Deals to release them stalled while coalition partners threatened to walk out. A minister said bringing them home was "not the most important thing". Hostage families were abused and attacked for fighting to bring their loved ones home. It took more than two years! Now, every surviving hostage is home (thanks Donald Trump). Too many came home in coffins. Political survival came first. Our people came second. This violates the most fundamental 'contract' between Israel and its citizens.

Many share the blame for October 7. In the army, in intelligence, in government. A proper national inquiry will sort that out. But the buck stops with the PM. It always does and always will.

Equal burden

More than 1,300 soldiers and security personnel have fallen since October 7. Reservists have served 200 to 400 days. Several of my closest friends in Israel lost their businesses.

The lucky ones went into hibernation and now run in survival mode. Many other

businesses have closed. Marriages have cracked. Kids have grown up with a parent away for months.

At the same time, Haredi (ultra Orthodox) protesters block highways chanting "we will die and not enlist". This is not a fringe. A serving minister in this government was filmed dancing to a song with that exact vow. In the middle of a war. While our soldiers were being buried. The High Court ruled unanimously (Nine judges) that yeshiva students must be drafted. That was two years ago. But a weak government, one that needs their votes to survive, spent those two years trying to write the exemption into law instead.

I respect Torah study and I respect faith. I do not respect asking other people's children to die for you and then trying to lock it into law for good.

Again this is not a right or left topic. Ask any reservist's family.

The price of a normal life

Australians love to complain about costs. Fair enough. Then walk into an Israeli

supermarket. By OECD measures, Israel is the most expensive country in the developed world. Pricier than Australia, the US and Norway. Food and drink around 50% above the OECD average. Salaries don't even come close.

Young families do the maths. Close to 90,000 Israelis a year have left since 2023, many of them doctors and engineers.

Instead of fixing it, the government poured over 5 billion shekels into coalition deals this year alone.

How we got here

Within its first month, this government launched the judicial overhaul. Weaken the courts. Control who becomes a judge. Remove the checks and balances that protect every citizen, whichever way they vote.

Some called it reform. Does Israel's judicial system need reform after all these years? Probably yes. Done smartly, through a broad, shared process. Not the way this extreme government tried it. That felt like a coup on the system.

Hundreds of thousands marched every Saturday night for months. Reservists said they wouldn't serve a dictatorship. The country split down the middle.

And that split was fed. A well oiled machine of ministers, online influencers and the government's megaphone TV channel told one half of Israel that the other half were traitors. Those "traitors" were the same reservists who left home for 200+ days to defend the country. This divide tore apart families and lifelong friendships like never before.

That's the core of it. A leader who puts his own political survival above the country. Same pattern, different 'spin'.

"But you don't even live there"

I've thought hard about this. Here's my answer.

First, it's the law. Israeli citizens can vote if they're in Israel on election day. So we fly. In 1999, around 15,000 dual citizens flew in from the US on special election flights. Haredi voters abroad have flown in for years. Nobody called that immoral. The same right applies to me.

This year, the PM's party went to the Central Elections Committee to stop flights like mine. They called it an "electoral bribe". That tells you how much these votes matter.

Second, I've paid my dues. Almost seven years of full-time service in the Air Force. More than 20 years of active operational service in total. Thousands of missions, hundreds of long nights. Reserve duty throughout the year. Every year. In parallel, I proudly carried Israeli technology around the world, my two cents to Israel's economy, one company at a time.

Third, my family lives there. Every decision this government makes lands on my mother, my in-laws, my sister and my friends' kids in uniform. I carry that every day from 14,000km away.

Should the law change one day? Maybe. There's a real debate to have. But it should apply to everyone overseas, not only the voters someone doesn't like.

What it means for us here

Clarity first: Antisemitism is never Israel's fault. Haters will hate and we deal with billions in hostile money funding the largest hate campaign in history.

Still, how Israel is led shapes how the world sees us. We need an Israel the world respects and admires.

What was stolen

I love Israel. That's exactly why I can't stay quiet.

I'm not flying to vote against something. I'm flying to vote for something.

For the Israel of 14 Nobel prizes. For the Israel of drip irrigation, of cancer breakthroughs, of startups on every corner. For the stubborn, brilliant, resilient country that came back from worse than this.

That Israel was taken from us. Slowly, then all at once. Not by an enemy but by a

leadership that cared more about staying in power than about the people it should serve.

On 27 October, I'll stand with a ballot in my hand. Next to me will be former Likud voters. Many still believe in its ideology. They know they can't vote for this PM. Not for this reality.

Best money I'll ever spend!