ANT KATZ

The Israeli Embassy in South Africa is holding a mock election campaign and wants as many South African citizens as possible to take part in it. Sound crazy? “Not at all,” says the embassy’s deputy head of mission, Michael Freeman.

In a unique initiative, the embassy in SA has created a website – www.israeldemocracy.co.za – which will go live next week. They are also going on a nation-wide publicity campaign to promote the novel venture which encourages the general population of the country to cast a vote – but in reality this is a mock election.

“We are holding a nation-wide poll which will track how South Africans feel about the upcoming Israeli elections,” explains Freeman.

The website, which was designed and built in SA, will give the platforms and background of all of the political parties contesting the Israeli election next month. This will expose South Africans to the political playing field in Israel. It will also explain how the electoral system in Israel works.

Incentive prizes worth thousands

“We are hoping to get everyone in South Africa voting,” Freeman told Jewish Report. To help encourage people to take the trouble, the embassy will be giving away thousands rands worth of prizes – including an iPad, Israeli wines, Israeli tech items and other Israeli-made items to voters who they will draw randomly.

Individuals are only allowed to vote once in this mock election and they will close voting the day before the real election which takes place on Tuesday March 17. The South African mock election results will be released on the evening of Monday March 16.

Why go to all this trouble? “The underlying purpose of the exercise is to demonstrate and highlight the vibrant democracy of Israel,” said Freeman.

Christian, Muslim, Bedouin, Druze and other minority citizens enjoy all the same freedoms and rights as any other Israeli citizen,. Arab political parties play a full part in Israel’s democracy and 12 members of the outgoing members of the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) are of Arabic decent.

In other words, the Embassy wants to demonstrate to South Africans how democratic Israel is. “We are going to be publicising this through as many media formats that we can,” said Freeman, with the objective of “allowing people to learn and understand more about the democratic system in Israel.”

To get to the website, simply click here: www.israeldemocracy.co.za  

Information on democracy

Apart from information on the elections and political parties, the website also carries a large amount of general information on Israeli democracy for those who want to know more, he explained.

The site also offers information about the demographic breakdown of Israel’s population, lots of facts about Israel as a democracy and the role of Arabs, other minorities and women within the democratic process.

While the embassy is interested in how SA Jewry would vote, says Freeman, the initiative is largely targeted at the non-Jewish demographic – folks who don’t know about Israel.

And what if the majority of votes cast in SA are for Arab parties? Jewish Report asked Freeman.

Completely unfazed, he replies that this would be perfect. “It will prove how democratic we really are,” came the reply.