'Life and death': What's at stake for diaspora communities as Israel heads to the polls

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Nirit Eylon immigrated to Australia 21 years ago. This month, for the first time, she’s flying back to Israel specifically to vote.

The country does not allow citizens living abroad to vote from outside its borders.

But with an election many view as the most consequential in its history fast approaching, estimates from the US-based Fly&Vote initiative, which helps facilitate their travel, suggest as many as 53,000 Israeli expats are expected to return.

"There is a perception that this election is about right and left. I don't believe it's so. I believe it's between right and wrong," the 52-year-old, who lives in Melbourne, tells SBS News.

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Eylon believes Israel is at a crossroads. She views the election as a contest between competing visions of the country’s future: one grounded in liberal democratic values, and another shaped by religious nationalism.

She believes Israel's leaders must be held accountable for failures surrounding the October 7 attacks, and that political change is necessary for Israel to begin to heal.

Israeli political science expert Shahar Burla, a contributing editor at The Jewish Independent, is one of more than 11,000 Israeli-born people living in Australia.

He tells SBS News he knows around 20 people in his immediate circle who are planning to return to Israel for the election — a circumstance he describes as "very unusual".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has pursued sweeping changes to Israel's institutions, including moves to curb the judiciary’s oversight of government decisions, while pushing increasingly hardline policies towards Palestinians and expanding Israeli military operations across the region, including in Lebanon and Iran .

Ongoing geopolitical tensions and fractured alliances mean the election will be watched closely by many outside Israel too.

SBS News has spoken with nine people from Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian, Lebanese and Iranian communities in Australia about what is at stake for them in this election, as conflict continues to reverberate across the Middle East.

While their views on peace, security and coexistence vary, they share one common belief: that Israel cannot continue on its current path.