All Jewish Agency emissaries that are abroad and their families should be
permitted to vote in the January 22 election even if their salaries are not
funded by the agency, MK Shlomo Molla (Tzipi Livni Party) wrote to the Central
Elections Committee chairman Justice Elyakim Rubinstein on
Tuesday.
Regular emissaries of the government, Jewish Agency, World
Zionist Organization and Keren Hayesod are allowed to vote in elections, as can
their wives and children aged 18 to 22. But dozens of agency emissaries to
communities and campuses in the United States have been ruled ineligible,
because their salaries are paid for by the Jewish Federations of North
America.
Molla, who is a former Jewish Agency employee, asked the Central
Elections Committee to reconsider their eligibility for both legal and
ideological reasons. He noted that the emissaries were drafted and trained by
the agency. He said that if they were not permitted to vote in the communities
they are serving, they should be flown to Israel to enable them to
vote.”
“These emissaries should be allowed to vote like all the others,”
Molla wrote Rubinstein.
“Beyond the legalities of the subject, it is a
matter of principle that the state should be obligated to its emissaries. This
would send an important message to Israel’s citizens and the Jews of the
Diaspora.”
A Jewish Agency spokesman responded that the agency would be
happy to help the emissaries vote but it must act according to the law. Habayit
Hayehudi MK Zevulun Orlev tries to change the law to enable such emissaries to
vote but his legislation did not pass.
“The law is clear,” Central
Elections Committee spokesman Giora Pordes said. “Shlomo Molla had four years to
change it. Where has he been?”