Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman are promoting a bill to give absentee voting rights to Israeli citizens who live abroad. I am against the proposal.

Voting in Israel affects far-reaching decisions about war and peace and determines the future makeup of the entire country. Only Israeli citizens – both Jew and Arab - who live here and will be directly affected by the elected government on a daily basis should vote. Why should hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have left the country permanently have a say in my future here in Israel?

How ironic that the self-styled supreme Israeli patriot, Avigdor Lieberman, the man who wants Israelis to take a loyalty test, has introduced the notion that “yordim” – Israeli expats once reviled for turning their backs on the country - can be granted the ultimate right of every citizen to vote, without then having to live with the consequences.