{"id":590554,"date":"2026-08-20T13:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T13:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/590554\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T13:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T13:20:11","slug":"people-who-no-longer-live-in-israel-who-are-returning-to-vote-have-a-lot-of-nerve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/590554\/","title":{"rendered":"People who no longer live in Israel who are returning to vote have a lot of nerve."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kalman Liebskind is an Israeli journalist who deserves to be better known outside Israel than he is. Several decades ago, he was one of the founding journalists at the Makor Rishon<\/a> newspaper, to which we often point here in IFTI. Later, he worked at Ma\u2019ariv. He is now the Editor-in-Chief of Makor Rishon. <\/p>\n

Liebskind has had a storied career; among many other accomplishments, he is the author of several critical expos\u00e9s which have shaken up Israeli society. In 1999, he exposed Ehud Barak\u2019s non-profit organizations that funded Barak\u2019s election campaign, in violation of Israel\u2019s political parties funding law. A decade later, in 2008, he wrote about how general Yoav Gallant had taken over public lands in Moshav Amikam. This revelation eventually led to the cancellation of Gallant\u2019s appointment as Chief of General Staff of the IDF.<\/p>\n

What I like most about smart opinion pieces in the press is when they get me to think all over again. I know that many people prefer the opposite \u2014 they like to read what they already agree with; I hardly see the point. <\/p>\n

In recent months, as I\u2019ve heard from many friends in the US and elsewhere that they plan to come back to Israel for a few days at the end of October specifically to vote, I\u2019ve been pleased. \u201cThey\u2019re still connected,\u201d I say to myself; and, of course, if they vote the way that I hope that they will, every vote counts. <\/p>\n

But a couple of weeks ago, Liebskind wrote a piece in Makor Rishon that stopped me in my tracks. The people coming back to vote, he opined, are doing something profoundly immoral. They don\u2019t live here, they didn\u2019t fight in the war, they\u2019ve chosen not to be part of this society \u2014 so they have no right to decide who will govern us. <\/p>\n

I might or might not agree, but it was was a very thoughtful piece, so we\u2019re sharing parts of it here. <\/p>\n

You can read the entire thing online by going to this article in <\/a>Makor Rishon<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Just copy the whole thing and paste it into your AI engine of choice, and you should be able to get a reasonable translation of the whole thing. <\/p>\n

For today, we\u2019re highlighting just a few clips of a much longer and very thoughtful piece. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are a few segments of the article by Kalman Liebskind for Makor Rishon<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2026The news site ynet does not have a big problem with leaving the country\u2014at least that is the impression from an understanding, empathetic, and accepting article published there this week under the headline: \u201cThe Israelis who left for abroad and do not apologize: We chose to emigrate, to live without fear.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2026 we read in the article about those who left due to \u201ca sense of despair and loss of faith in the country,\u201d because of \u201cthe security situation,\u201d because of \u201ceconomic hardship,\u201d because of \u201cprices at the supermarket,\u201d because of \u201cthe pleasant culture of Europeans,\u201d because of \u201cmissiles and sirens,\u201d because of \u201cthe longing for a peaceful life,\u201d and more.<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 The complete indifference to injured children in Gaza was unbearable for us,\u201d shared Anna (42), one of the interviewees who emigrated with her family to Portugal. She added: \u201cWe fulfilled the dream and established a boutique hotel for dogs and cats with an enormous area, something we could never have done in Israel.\u201d The girls, she said, \u201care growing up in an atmosphere of kindness, tranquility, mutual aid, and personal security. In Israel, it simply doesn\u2019t exist. Everything is green everywhere, and you can start the morning with a swim in a lake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there any chance she will ever return to Israel? Unequivocally, no. \u201cWe didn\u2019t relocate\u2014we chose to emigrate,\u201d she clarifies. \u201cWe are entirely at peace with the decision, and I hope that in a decade, when someone asks my daughter \u2018Where are you from?\u2019, she will answer that she is Portuguese. For us, it\u2019s already too late, but for my daughters, I wish for them to assimilate into the culture and community here, and feel a true sense of belonging to this wonderful country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

Tell me, does it seem reasonable to anyone that [someone] who declares she has no intention of returning to us, and wishes for her children to assimilate into Portugal\u2014should decide what happens here, who will be the Prime Minister here, what we will do with the Palestinian Authority, and whether my son will continue to serve in the reserves in Bint Jbeil? \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026 it is clear from media reports that the motivation to come to Israel to vote comes primarily from the left, yet I swear I would write the exact same words in the opposite reality. I do not care who comes\u2014right-wing or left-wing\u2014or which slip they put in the ballot box. The thought that someone who has lived in Manhattan for 25 years will arrive here, stay for one day before returning home, and during that day decide for us what the next Knesset will look like, what Israel\u2019s diplomatic approach will be, how we will relate to Abu Mazen, what will happen to the cost of living, and whether Bezalel Smotrich will sit in the coalition or Yair Golan will sit in the coalition\u2014should drive every Israeli citizen out of their mind. I prefer to live in a country where Yair Golan is Prime Minister if that is what Israelis want, rather than a country where Bezalel Smotrich is Prime Minister if that is what the Jews of Miami want. I have a million disagreements with Yair Golan, but he lives here with me. His child fights at the front with my child. When prices rise here, he feels it in his wallet like me. When the enemy fires missiles at us, he runs to the bomb shelter with his wife while I run to the bomb shelter with my wife, and together we will pay the price of our vote for the Knesset.<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next, in his piece, Liebeskind discusses the profile of the couple leaving Israel that we focused on a few days ago. Here is what he had to say about the couple and about Channel 11\u2019s profile of them. <\/p>\n

He continues \u2026 <\/p>\n

\u2026 Hagai Agmon-Snir and his wife Iris Meiri-Snir left the country a few days ago and received a nice opportunity to lay out their ideology, both in an interview with Nir Hasson in Haaretz and in a television report by Moav Vardi on Kan 11\u2019s Friday news. Hagai and Iris have no plans to return. \u201cIt\u2019s hard for me to imagine there being something here I\u2019d want to return to,\u201d Iris explained, and Hagai reasoned why: \u201cI am leaving for an entirely ideological reason, a moral reason… The thing that bothers me most in Israeli society is that the fascist stream has become very central… There are two million people in Gaza that no one is willing to think for a moment about how to reduce their future suffering. There are people in the West Bank being beaten, harmed, and dispossessed today, and it is terrible, absolutely terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two do not intend to settle for their own departure. They plan to work from abroad to disassemble things for us, even after they leave. To Kan 11, Hagai explained that he intends to labor to convince others to leave as well. To Haaretz, he said: \u201cIf I could, I would establish the movement for ideological emigration from Israel.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2026.And above all, the headline attached by editors to the story with these two emigrants stood out: \u201cThe pair of patriots leaving Israel.\u201d Well, a patriot is not someone who leaves Israel. A patriot is someone who sticks with it. Tens of thousands of Jews who made Aliyah after October 7th\u2014despite the difficulty, despite the anxiety, despite the fear, despite the ongoing war\u2014they are patriots. 6,850 reservists who are lone soldiers\u2014they are patriots. A hundred new immigrants who gave their lives in this war for all of us\u2014they are patriots. Sergeant Nathaniel Young, who made Aliyah from London, enlisted in Golani, and fell near the Gaza envelope\u2014he is a patriot. His parents who made Aliyah after him\u2014they are patriots as well. The 140 new immigrants who arrived here this week from France\u2014from four-month-old Mia to 85-year-old Annie\u2014those are the real patriots. Patriots exist on the right and on the left, among voters of Otzma Yehudit and voters of The Democrats. Patriots stay here. Patriots do not leave the country. Patriots do not sit by the water in San Francisco, make a quick trip to the humid Middle East to decide for the citizens of the State of Israel how their future will look, and fly back home.<\/p>\n

Share Israel from the Inside with Daniel Gordis<\/a><\/p>\n

Give a gift subscription<\/a><\/p>\n

NOTE THIS ELSEWHERE\u2026. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Liebeskind clearly got under some people\u2019s skin with his piece. Ha\u2019aretz posted a silly retort, making a claim that Liebeskind already refuted in his column. But the mere fact that Ha\u2019aretz chose to respond shows how much Liebeskind has gotten people\u2019s attention. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A REMINDER: what we\u2019ve quoted above is but a brief selection of the full opinion piece, which is very well worth reading in its entirety. Using the link above and your AI translator, take a look \u2014 it merits your time. <\/p>\n

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