Shai Schoenfeld left a remote sheep station in the Australian outback. ,His trip home to the Galilee ran 10,000 miles and more than 30 hours., He did it to cast one ballot.
Your cousin won't drive to a polling place if it's drizzling.
Israel allows no absentee voting. ,Votes from abroad are barred, except from those serving in the country's diplomatic missions., So citizens fly. ,The Fly&Vote initiative estimates roughly 67,000 will return,, which it says is about one and a half Knesset seats. That is an estimate, not a count. I checked.
Rabbi Claudia Kreiman went from Boston. ,She spent more than $2,000 to fly in for one night, just to vote., One night. No beach. No brunch. Democracy, with a layover.
Compare that to the average retail trader. He will not read a prospectus. He will read a stranger's tweet about a prospectus. Then he will buy options expiring Friday and call it conviction.
These voters read the polls, which show ,an extremely tight race., Then they booked a flight. Commitment. Real skin in the game. Nobody refunds a ballot.
Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly nervous. ,He has warned the returning voters could tip the balance away from him., The man has survived wars, coalitions, and trials. Now he is undone by economy-class legroom.
Opposition activists greeted arrivals at the airport. ,They held balloons and wore T-shirts., Balloons. At a terminal. Somewhere a Fed governor is jealous of that turnout energy.
The analysts chart it like a breakout. Pundits call it a catalyst. It is a flight from Portugal. Planes land. People vote. Nothing in my moving averages cares.
Still, I respect it. These people crossed oceans for a one-in-seven-million say in the outcome. You refresh a brokerage app 400 times a day for a one-in-nothing say in a meme coin.
They flew 30 hours to change a government. You can't change your password.
Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash
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