TEL AVIV, Israel — On the eve of Election Day in Israel, crowds of volunteers and politicians gathered at the Tel Aviv airport on Monday to offer a hero’s welcome with balloons, signs and songs. The guests of honor? Israelis living abroad arriving from the United States to vote. Sara Lerner flew in from New York for one night only.

“For me, it’s really critical that the country make a change,” Lerner told MS NOW fresh off her flight.

Lerner, 41, said she’s not sure if she can make a difference, but she felt she had to try.

“It’s deeply important to me that Israel find a path forward that is more realistic than a path of just complete global isolation, and to me, that’s just — it’s worth making the trip out here,” she said.

The pivotal election is seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose tenure has seen widespread protests — in Israel, opposing his push to overhaul Israel’s judicial system and failure to adequately prevent and respond to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas; in the U.S., opposing alleged war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel does not allow absentee voting, so in order to have a voice in their leaders, Israelis have to make the journey back.

And for this election, Israelis in the U.S. are returning in droves, many citing a global rise in antisemitism and the need to repair Israel’s standing in the world.

According to the latest data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, roughly 810,000 of Israel’s 7.3 million registered voters live abroad.

The AID Coalition’s Fly&Vote operation, a nonpartisan effort to help Americans travel to Israel for the election, estimates at least 67,000 Israelis abroad are expected to return to cast their ballots on Tuesday.

Netanyahu’s Likud party filed a challenge with Israel’s Central Elections Committee, attempting to block Fly&Vote’s efforts, which resulted in a settlement earlier this month in which the organization agreed not to subsidize plane ticket costs or organize additional flights.

“This initiative is about participation, not persuasion,” said Batell Blaise-Sultanik, executive director of the AID Coalition, wearing a T-shirt with the words, “It’s so good to have you,” written in Hebrew.

“Democracy works when people show up, full stop,” Blaise-Sultanik said.

It’s not just change bloc voters turning out — throughout the afternoon, a steady stream of ultra-Orthodox Jews passed through the arrivals terminal, representing a critical voting bloc that is part of Netanyahu’s coalition and may be key to his ability to hold on to power.

Around three hundred anti-Netanyahu voters arrived on a flight from San Francisco organized by UnXeptable, an organization of Israeli expats focused on addressing what they say are threats to Israeli democracy.

“We saw Israel becoming more and more turning into a more religious, fundamentalistic, fascist government, and what’s happening in Israel is not necessarily what all Israelis, of course, want,” said UnXeptable founder Offir Gutelzon, who helped mobilize voters from cities around the world.

For Gutelzon, the pilgrimage is the final stop to preserve hope for Israel’s future.

“It’s the last mile to make sure that we have other people taking the wheels of this train, and then working together to rebuild the reputation of Israel, to rebuild the U.S.-Israel relationship, to rebuild the path for peace, and to rebuild Israel as a thriving democracy,” he said.

Internal affairs — like judicial reform, an independent commission inquiry into the Oct. 7 attack, and national security — are the highest priorities for most Israelis, according to polls. But Israelis in the U.S. are keenly aware of the souring of American support for Netanyahu and their country.

David Denco, who lived in Jerusalem for eight years before moving to New York with his wife and two daughters in recent months, wants to repair the perception of Israel and Jewish people after experiencing antisemitism in the states.

Denco said he plans to vote for Netanyhu’s main rival, former Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, who quit Netanyahu’s Cabinet over what he said was a lack of strategy in Gaza.

“It’s so important to me to vote because I think this year it’s really, really going to change the whole situation of Israel,” Denco said. “And I think it’s gonna maybe even change how the world will look on us.”May 2026 Pew Research Center survey found 62% of American adults had an unfavorable view of the Israeli government, up from 43% in 2022.

Polls leading up to Election Day indicate a true toss-up between Netanyahu’s coalition and that of his opposition, led by challenger Eisenkot.

If neither reaches an outright or coalition 61-seat majority in the Knesset, new elections could be called, with the prime minister remaining in power until then — a fear for some who have spent thousands of dollars to vote this time around.

Shimrit Braun Kamin, who moved to the U.S. around 13 years ago, spent $1,500 on the round-trip flight with UnXeptable. She said the expat turnout would not be the same as another time around.

“I think everyone knows that this round, everything is at stake and we must do whatever we can to mobilize Israelis from all around the country to vote,” Kamin, 47, said, adding that she hopes the scenes of voters from overseas arriving at the airport will encourage local Israelis to do their part, too. Josh Einiger contributed reporting from Tel Aviv.

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