“Overall, my family and I really do want to bring about change. We greatly value having the right to vote and have our voices heard, even though we're not living in Israel.”
Perry said that his family expedited their plans to emigrate amid the 2023 mass protests thanks to their opposition to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s controversial judicial reform proposals.
“My parents wanted us to experience living abroad. The judicial reform was a factor that hurried up the move,” he went on.
Yehonatan Perry at the polling station casting his vote (Courtesy)[Missing Credit]
Perry is in his final year at sixth form and plans to study engineering at a university in the UK. He lives in London with his parents and two younger siblings, but nearly all of his wider family is still in Israel.
“We really want a change in Israel. We find the current government not very democratic.
“A lot of laws are being passed that benefit certain parts of the population, while a lot of our rights are being taken away.
“There are certain groups in the population that we don't agree with, and power is being concentrated in the government, with judicial power being reduced and the Knesset making the laws.
“In 2023, we used to go to the protests in Tel Aviv a lot. It was about taking powers away from the courts.”
Perry said that moving back to Israel is “in the pipeline” but if Netanyahu returns to power, “we are going to be more hesitant” to do so.
“The decisions of the current government don’t align with our values,” he said.
As for the war, Perry said that under Netanyahu, it seems as though there “aren’t any real plans in place” for bringing it to an end.
And on the topic of why so many expats returned to have their vote, he said: “I think it's patriotism. I think most Israelis, even those who live abroad, value the country. It's the only Jewish country, and we do value it.
“Me coming back is me preserving my ability to have a prosperous country that I can live in freely, and that still aligns with democratic values.
“A lot of people felt almost forced to move out. A lot of people have had their work limited in Israel because the budget isn't going in the right direction. There are a lot of different factors, but most people have that strong connection to Israel.”
Perry didn’t only vote for his own future, though, but everybody else's, and said that even if he had no plans to move home, “I would still have voted. It is important to practice your right to vote."
