Israelis look to the skies on Tuesday, searching not for incoming fire, but for signs of peace and hope as they cast their ballots in the nation's first general election since the October 2023 Hamas attacks.
The India Touch
And in this tale of Israeli democracy, there is a beautiful Indian connect.
According to India's Ministry of External Affairs, there are more than 1,00,000 Indian-origin Jews in Israel, many of whom will exercise their right to vote today.
Not delving much into politics, Indian immigration into Israel happened mainly in the 50s and 60s. They were mostly from Maharashtra (Bene Israelis) and relatively smaller numbers from Kerala (Cochini Jews) and Kolkata (Baghdadi Jews).
The Indian connection doesn't end there.
Some Indian Jews from Mizoram and Manipur (Bnei Menashe) have also been immigrating to Israel.
The Bnei Menashe, also known as the Shinlung in India and translated from Hebrew as "Children of Menasseh", are a Jewish community from the India-Burma border region and are believed to be the descendants of one of the Lost Tribes of Israel. The Bnei Menashe community has been slowly making its way to Israel since the 1990s.
Bnei Menashe is not a sudden development. As far as oral history goes, Bnei Menashe is all about a centuries-long exodus through Persia, Afghanistan, Tibet and China.
In April this year, over 250 Indians claiming descent from a biblical tribe landed at Ben Gurion Airport as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel.
According to a report in The Jerusalem Post, the community's slow trickle into Israel was bound to go up after the government approved a decision to relocate the remaining 6,000 members of the community to Israel by 2030 in an operation called Operation Wings of Dawn.
Netanyahu Faces A Litmus Test
Only time will tell if incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Likud Party and its far-right allies will survive this critical electoral test.
This Tuesday, Prime Minister Netanyahu will worry more about ballots than bombs from Palestine or Iran as a strong opposition bloc that includes the Yashar party, led by former army chief Gadi Eisenkot, threatens to dethrone him.
There are some 7.3 million eligible Israeli voters who will decide the fate of the parties, as a party needs at least 3.25 per cent of valid votes to enter the Knesset.
