Time and again, the Israeli government refuses to advance the necessary amendment to the election law that would allow airline flight crews to vote at a special polling station at Ben Gurion Airport – before departing on international flights. Frankly, it is becoming tiresome, humiliating, and insulting.
Every time this issue comes up for discussion in the Knesset or in the media, I find myself pinching my arm to make sure it is real. And every time, it hurts.
Again and again, the Israeli government refuses to promote the obvious amendment to the election law that would allow flight crews departing on international assignments to cast their ballots at a special polling station at Ben Gurion Airport before leaving the country.
It is a simple and logical measure, akin to what we once referred to as the “sailors’ vote”—those absentee ballots from Israeli seafarers that, legend has it, the late Shimon Peres waited for until the very end, hoping they might rescue him from electoral defeat. Today, there may be only one or two Israeli seafarers with voting rights left among all the vessels sailing under the Israeli flag.
Alternatively, we could compare the situation to the voting rights granted to prisoners. Those who have broken the law, committed serious crimes, and in one infamous case even assassinated a prime minister, still retain the right to participate in elections from behind bars.
Flight crews, however, do not.
Time after time, members of Knesset from across the political spectrum introduce proposals to amend the law at the request of the Israel Pilots Association and in the name of basic fairness and democratic rights. Time after time, the government chooses to postpone, evade, or simply avoid making a decision.
Why?
I honestly do not know.
Perhaps the reason is political. Perhaps it is something else entirely. Could it be that someone fears a few hundred votes cast by pilots and flight attendants might somehow determine the outcome of an election? I am not convinced.
Some government ministers have already told the pilots where they can go. Others have suggested imprisoning them—which, paradoxically, would actually allow them to vote. Still others simply dislike, resent, or envy airline crews.
What interests me is something else.
What goes through the mind of an Israeli Air Force reservist pilot as he departs on yet another complex mission beyond enemy lines, facing substantial personal risk, while knowing that the very same country sending him into harm’s way is also prepared to deny him the most basic democratic right—the right to vote for the Knesset?
All because the airline that employs him may have assigned him to a long-haul flight to the United States, the Far East, or another overseas destination on election day.
And despite all the efforts made by pilots, flight attendants, and flight crew organizations, neither Transportation Minister Yoav Kisch—himself a pilot—nor anyone else has succeeded in changing this reality.
It is becoming exhausting.
It is becoming humiliating.
And it is becoming deeply insulting.
That is precisely why hundreds of pilots have already informed their employers that they will refuse flight assignments on election day in order to exercise their right to vote and participate in what promises to be a pivotal election.
That is also why the leadership of every Israeli airline has received formal notification, allowing them to prepare for potential crew shortages on election day.
As things currently stand, passengers wishing to travel to or from Israel may need to do so a day before or a day after the election.
The pilots and other members of Israel’s flight crews will continue serving the country. They will continue risking their lives on military missions. They will continue operating civilian flights that connect Israel to the world.
But this time, they are unwilling to surrender their most basic democratic right.
The right to vote.
The right to have a voice.
And if anyone deserves that right, surely it is those who bear so much of the nation’s burden.
Perhaps the next Knesset and the next government will finally recognize the absurdity of this situation and correct this unfair and degrading injustice.
After all, what are we really asking for?
Simply grant pilots the same voting rights that prisoners already enjoy.
