Around 90,000 Israelis living abroad are in Israel as election approaches
A mobile operator says the number is about 74,000 higher than usual for October and could reach 111,000 by election day. The estimates are based on subscriber presence, not a direct count of all Israelis abroad or confirmed voting plans.
As of midday on October 25, approximately 90,000 Israelis living abroad were in Israel, about 74,000 more than on a typical day in October, according to estimates by Bekesher, a virtual mobile operator that provides eSIM services to Israelis abroad who want to retain their Israeli phone numbers. The company attributes the increase to Israelis arriving ahead of the election, although its presence data does not establish why they are visiting.
Earlier on Sunday, the company estimated that around 80,000 Israelis living abroad were in the country. In a forecast it describes as conservative, Bekesher expects that figure to reach approximately 111,000 by election day, about 94,000 above the usual level. The company believes many of these visitors are coming specifically to vote, though the data alone cannot confirm their intentions.
Bekesher was founded in Florida in 2023 and is owned by Israeli firm Neptucom and Ron Dickson, the company’s CEO. It has tens of thousands of customers and says its estimates are based on measurements of subscribers’ actual presence in Israel, rather than surveys or advance registrations. However, its estimates of the total number of Israelis living abroad are extrapolated from its own customer data, rather than based on a direct count of all arrivals.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, approximately 810,000 Israelis eligible to vote were living abroad as of October 2026. Since 2023, around 260,000 Israelis of all ages have left the country, approximately 75% of them adults.
Data from the company show that around 18% of its subscribers were in Israel by Sunday afternoon, six times the roughly 3% recorded on a typical day in October last year. The company notes that October 2025 also included the Tishrei holiday period. On October 24, about 14% of subscribers were in Israel. The share rose to around 16% on Sunday morning and 18% by the afternoon.
Assuming the share increases by two percentage points a day, the company projects that around 22% of its subscribers will be in Israel on election day.
“Many subscribers have told us they want to activate their service because they are traveling to Israel,” the company said. “People don’t just travel to Israel in the middle of October for no reason. Even during the summer, we don’t see such a high percentage of our customers in Israel. These are clearly people traveling specifically to vote.”
The company also distinguishes between Israelis who left the country in recent years and those who have lived abroad for a longer period. According to its assessment, those who left more recently are twice as likely to be motivated to return and vote as those who moved abroad longer ago. The company attributes this difference to a stronger sense of commitment and a desire to influence events in Israel. However, the presence data alone cannot establish voters’ motivations or explain differences between the two groups.
Some Israelis living abroad arrived during or immediately after the holiday season and have remained in Israel ahead of the election. They may vote on election day, but they are already included in the current estimates of Israelis present in the country and should not be counted again as additional arrivals.
