Australian olim on their first Israeli election

Emily Gian moved to Israel three months before October 7. Danny Lamm arrived four weeks ago. Both will take part in their first Israeli election on October 27.

Gian, 43, who works in social media for the Zionist Federation of Australia but spoke in a personal capacity, said the national mood pulled in two directions.

“There’s a real mood of people want change,” she said. “There hasn’t been an official inquiry into October 7, and the heads of everything seem to have gone home, except for the prime minister. So there’s a feeling that some sort of responsibility needs to be taken.”

Against that, three years of war had repeatedly pulled attention away from domestic politics.

“There have been outside influences that have made people focus for certain periods of time less on the political situation,” she said. “Now it feels like, okay, now the elections.”