Travelers Return Home Before Vote

Ben-Gurion Airport logged a net gain of more than 90,000 passengers entering Israel compared to those leaving during the final days before the October 27 Knesset election. Channel 13 reported the figures on Sunday, noting a distinct shift in passenger traffic patterns in the week leading up to the ballot.

The station compared airport activity between October 17 and 27 across three years: 2022, 2025, and 2026. In 2026, approximately 245,000 passengers departed Israel. This number is lower than the roughly 270,000 departures recorded in 2025, following the end of the war, and significantly lower than the 323,000 departures seen in 2022, the last general election. The decline occurred despite increased aircraft and flight availability in recent years.

Arrivals surged during the same period. No large-scale special airlifts were organized to bring voters home, meaning incoming travelers primarily used existing aviation capacity. Channel 13 calculated the gap between arrivals and departures at over 90,000 in 2026. This exceeds the roughly 77,000 gap recorded in the same timeframe in 2025.

The station estimated that 90,000 people equates to roughly two Knesset seats if all were eligible voters who cast valid ballots. However, the data includes children and foreign nationals who cannot vote, so it does not isolate those who returned specifically for the election.

Israel’s electoral threshold is 3.25% of valid votes. Seats in the 120-member Knesset are distributed proportionally among parties that clear this line. Small shifts in turnout could determine which parties near the threshold retain representation. Most Israeli citizens living abroad cannot vote remotely and must return to the country to cast ballots.

A Fly&Vote survey estimated that about 67,000 Israelis living abroad planned to travel to vote. That figure relied on registration data and voluntary responses rather than confirmed arrivals. The initiative, run by the AID Coalition, assisted travelers but faced restrictions after legal proceedings initiated by Likud.

Alon Ben-Gurion, grandson of the first prime minister David Ben-Gurion, arrived from the United States with his family. According to Channel 13, he traveled to Tiberias to vote. Organizers had arranged dedicated flights from New York and Lisbon in August to meet demand from Israelis overseas.