Diaspora Israeli Returns to Vote, Highlights Deepening Societal Divides

Nathan Dawidowicz, a non-binary Berlin resident, returned to Israel for the upcoming Knesset election, marking his first vote there since turning 18 seventeen years ago. On the flight he saw many secular expatriates heading to the polls, and at the airport three planes from Berlin landed simultaneously, underscoring the diaspora's mobilization. Nathan intends to back Yair Golan’s Democratic Party, hoping it will cooperate with Arab parties and push toward a negotiated peace, even if a Palestinian state is not imminent.

He described the campaign atmosphere as unusually hostile, with biblical verses used as slogans and anti-Arab chants becoming more visible. The writer also linked personal family discord—his ultra-orthodox mother’s support for Netanyahu and his own experiences of racism—to the broader societal split, and warned that continued settler aggression could shape the next government’s direction.