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Defense Minister Israel Katz at the graduation ceremony for the 76th class of combat officers in Bahad 1, officers’ training school, earlier this month. Credit: Ilan Assayag
Defense Minister Israel Katz at the graduation ceremony for the 76th class of combat officers in Bahad 1, officers’ training school, earlier this month. Credit: Ilan Assayag
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the absentee votes cast by Israeli conscripts and reservists in “double envelopes” would serve as a major test of support for the security policy he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have pursued in recent years.
In a post on X, Katz said that soldiers were well placed to judge the government’s security policy, citing IDF operations in Gaza, Syria and Lebanon, as well as in the West Bank.
He said the troops understand the government’s push for military operations in Iran and Yemen, and the “shift in Israel’s security doctrine toward initiative, offense and decisive victory, rather than containment and diplomatic arrangements.”
Absentee votes are known as “double envelopes” because each vote is placed inside two envelopes. The inner envelope is anonymous, like a standard ballot envelope, while the outer envelope bears the voter’s personal information.