In the next week, two sets of elections will be held on two continents, the outcomes of which could have profound consequences for the world. By a fluke of electoral timetabling, millions of voters around 6,000 miles apart will unite in exercising their democratic rights within days of each other. Voters in Israel go to the polls on Tuesday to elect a new parliament; a week later, voters in the United States will elect a new Congress.
A former speaker of that Congress, Tip O'Neill, may have once said that "all politics is local". But the consequences of these elections will undoubtedly be global. For these elections are not just proximate, they are intertwined.
The future governance of Israel will have a lasting impact on the Middle East and wars raging across the region. And any change in the electoral map of America could shape not just those wars but also the future of the global economy. Between the two there is a physical connection: the lobby group Republicans Overseas Israel estimates about half a million Israelis with American passports can vote in both polls.
Marc Zell, the group's chairman, said these electors could influence tight races in the US, such as the Michigan senatorial contest, in which he estimated 10,000 absentee ballots would be cast from Israel. "They can really make a difference," he told the BBC. But the policy connection is perhaps deeper - and most acute regarding the US-Israeli war on Iran.
The massive aerial attack, which began in February, destroyed many military targets and killed much of Iran's leadership. But it failed to overthrow the regime which hit back hard across the Gulf and seized control of the Strait of Hormuz and much of the world's energy supply. The sheer fact of the elections has already shaped decision-making.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has used the campaign to talk up the possibility of launching a fresh attack on Iran. He has made new claims – without providing evidence – about Iran's nuclear threat, insisting again the Islamic regime must be overthrown. His aim: to shore up his reputation as a security leader, which took such a battering after the deadly 7 October Hamas-led attacks on Israel.
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