From sailors' votes to airlifts: the heated battle over voting for Israelis abroad
On a hot July day in 1965, the deafening sirens of ships anchored in Haifa port signaled a strike. The next day, newspapers reported that work was paralyzed on ten Israeli vessels, including the 'Theodor Herzl', as 3,500 sailors demanded the right to vote in the Knesset elections.
On one of the hot July days of the summer of 1965, the deafening sirens of many ships anchored in the port of Haifa were suddenly heard. The next day, newspapers reported: "With the cessation of the siren, work was paralyzed on ten Israeli ships, including the passenger ship 'Theodor Herzl', which was about to sail to Europe. Passengers who had not yet boarded the ship were asked to wait on the piers or in the port restaurants, while others who had managed to board were forced to wait for essential services for two hours, until the end of the strike." Israel's merchant navy was a powerful force at the time and numbered about 3,500 sailors.
On that day, they decided to take industrial action that was defined in the press as "the strangest strike ever held in the State of Israel." A correspondent for the 'Haaretz' newspaper explained: "Behind it were no demands for the improvement of material conditions or for the protection of a colleague who had been fired. The strikers demanded to exercise a right, which was promised to every Israeli citizen in accordance with the laws of the country: to allow 3,500 Israeli sailors, who were scheduled to sail on election day on their ships outside the country's borders, to vote in the elections for the Sixth Knesset." By the way, the electoral power of the sailors at the time was equivalent to one-fifth of a mandate — about 13,500 voters in today's terms.
