IOM says Israelis of Iraqi origin can vote in Iraqi elections

[Flagg]

IOM says Israelis of Iraqi origin can vote in Iraqi elections



JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israelis of Iraqi origin will be able to take part in this month's Iraqi election but only if they vote outside the Jewish state, the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) said.




"Israelis of Iraqi origin will be authorised to vote in the elections to parliament," said Sarah Tosh of the Geneva-based IOM which is organising an out-of-country vote for Iraqi expatriates.

Tosh said that voters would have to cast their ballots in one of 14 countries which have set up special polling booths for the January 30 ballot, the nearest of which is in Amman, the capital of neighbouring Jordan.

Anyone who wants to register for voting must present two forms of identity and present proof that they have at least an Iraqi father between January 17 and 23. The expatriate vote will take place between January 28 and 30.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050113/wl_mideast_afp/iraqvoteoverseas&cid=1514&ncid=1478

Another fair and balanced election coming up....

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. Anyone else see this as a HORRIBLE development?

Anyone else think this is going to be seen as more evidence of Israel telling the US to take over the Arab world for them?

[Jacobin]

2. ahem

I don't think the world needs anymore evidence of that. It is plain to anyone who opens his eyes.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

4. Good point.

But you'd think our PR would kick in at some point and say "Hey, maybe that's a bad idea..."

[DulceDecorum]

23. Abraham & Sarah were from Iraq

and so that means that every single Israeli is entitled to vote in the elections there.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

24. LMAO

Hey, they use the Bible for their claims to the land. Why not a vote too?

[IndianaGreen]

10. Dan Senor, Bremer's deputy, is an Israeli-American

and he got his Masters degree in Israel. So what else is new?

What's worse, having Israelis of Iraqi descent vote in the elections, or have American Christian missionaries trying to convert Iraqi Muslim children? Iraq is so FUBAR that the only choices available is the type of poison we must take.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

14. You got that right.

FUBAR is the perfect term too.

[bear425]

3. Well then, Canadians of American origin should have been able to vote here

Then *ushco would have had to turned the fraud modulator higher to counter the many, many more Kerry votes.

[Walt Starr]

5. This will do a lot for Mideast Peace

:eyes:

[aden_nak]

6. I don't get it! Why doesn't the arab community trust the US?

/slapself

Since must of the arab world sees the United States as an extension of Israeli power in the Middle East, I am sure this latest development will go over oh-so-well.

And the reason this "got by" is because BushCo has no interest in peace in the Middle East. They want the endless war. This is just another irritant to insure that the endless war continues. There comes a point when you have to stop and wonder how many times in a row BushCo can do the absolute WORST thing before it's no longer coincidence.

[Massachusetts]

7. FUBAR

[denverbill]

8. Next President of Iraq? Sharon or Lieberman?

I'm sure Iraqis would rally behind either one and Iraq would become a bastion of liberal democracy.

[IndianaGreen]

11. I'll vote for Lieberman

get rid of the old neolib fool by shipping him to one of Saddam's palaces. The sob campaigned for this war, let him reap his just rewards!

[Onlooker]

9. The election is a farce, but ...

.. what's the difference between allowing expatriates living in Israel and expatriates living elsewhere to vote? Also, what makes you think that Iraqis living in Israel are right-wing. Some may be, but others may be progressive. Those living in Israel who fled Saddam are not necessarily right-wing or pro-Bush.

[IndianaGreen]

12. We let Israeli Americans vote in US elections

They can vote for Likud, Labor, or one of the minor parties in Israel while they can also vote for US President.

I will point out that many of those Israelis voted for Gore in 2000, and certainly voted against Bush in 2004.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

16. Political affiliation is not the point at all.

The point any exception made on the behalf of Israelis is seen as Israel controlling U.S. policy in the Middle East, and thus, totally fucks up any notion that we're there at all on behalf of the Iraqi people.

[starroute]

18. There is an enormous difference

Iraqi expatriates who left Iraq because of Saddam Hussein or for greater economic opportunities can still be presumed to identify as Iraqis and to vote on the basis of what they think would be best for Iraq.

Israelis of Iraqi origin are not expatriates. They have been gone for decades with no expectation of ever returning. They have no reason to think kindly of Iraq and no reason to vote on any basis other than what might be advantageous to Israel.

I think that even the first case sets a bad precedent -- roughly equivalent to demanding that the Miami Cubans be allowed to vote for Castro's eventual successor. But the second case turns the whole thing into farce.

[IA_Seth]

13. Holy Shiest

So Israeli citizens can go to Iraq to vote, but Palestinians are still without rights in Israel?

WTF is going on in this world when "normal" people can sit back and watch this shit unfold. This whole expatriate vote doesn't make sense in the first place. Why the hell should an Israeli (regardless of who the hell the ancestors are) have the right to vote in a country they don't live in?

Up next, US soldiers allowed to vote in Iraqi elections....

[IndianaGreen]

15. This is not a "Jewish" issue, read article on dual citizenship

Number of dual citizens in U.S. soaring

Wednesday, May 15, 2002

By Jack Kelly, Post-Gazette National Security Writer

Dual citizenship is a worldwide phenomenon, but it is overwhelmingly an American issue, because most of the world's immigrants come here.

There are three ways for someone to become a citizen of the United States:

If you are born here, you are an American, no matter what the nationality of your parents.

If you are born abroad, but at least one of your parents is an American, you'll be considered an American, too (there are some exceptions).

Immigrants who have been granted permanent resident status may become naturalized citizens. Ordinarily, immigrants have to wait five years after receiving their green card to apply for citizenship. Spouses of U.S. citizens only have to wait three years.

The oath that naturalized citizens take requires them to "absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty." Old passports must be turned in. But nothing prevents a new citizen from going back to his or her country of origin and getting another. Americans who acquired multiple citizenship at birth are under no legal obligation to put America first.

The country in which a dual citizen resides is generally considered to have the greater claim on allegiance, but no international treaties govern dual citizenship. Each country decides how to treat dual citizens.

http://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20020515dual0515p4.asp

[IA_Seth]

17. Not trying to make it one either....

I have not intention of making this a "jewish" issue. It is an issue of having some people having rights and others not. It is an issue of allowing people to vote who have no "claim" to citizenship. These aren't "dual-citizens", these are people who can claim that at least their father is Iraqi.

If I can prove my father is Italian can I go vote in their next election?

[IndianaGreen]

19. If you can show your grandparents are from Spain

you can get Spanish citizenship. The Cortes (Spain's equivalent of the British Parliament) passed such a law last year, which would definitely benefit me were I to leave the increasingly backward and savage America and decide to become an European. I could conceivably continue to vote in US elections. I could also become a triple-citizenship person were I to emigrate to Israel.

The concept of nationality is becoming increasingly archaic in the 21st century, and perhaps rightly so. There is no nationality when it comes to the proletariat anyway!

[yinkaafrica]

20. We need to give every member of likud 10 million US votes!

We elected the Anti-Christ, let's finish the job.
I am getting damn tired of waiting for Armageddon.

[Malikshah]

21. And Palestinians will be able to vote in the next Israeli elections?

Those living in the US, Lebanon, in the Arab World etc.?

Does the IOM allow this?
Just wondering.

[IA_Seth]

25. Hear, Hear! n/t

[mulethree]

28. Sure they will !

Iranians, New Yorkers, Poles - Israel doesn't care where you come from or live - only that you're Jewish. There are charter flights to and from Israel for each election just so people can vote in their elections. Some are Israeli's living abroad, but many have never lived there longer than a vacation.

The Israeli right wing wants to allow absentee ballots and votes by non-citizen Jews. They feal that diaspora who are interested enough to vote will vote more right wing. The left wing objects, fealing that those emigrants don't put their ass on the line by living there and so shouldn't have a vote.

[0007]

22. Please junior, I beg you...you are making an ass out of yourself

Call off the stupid election and bring the troops home. Folks will applaud you. I think?

[David__77]

26. This is outrageous!

Who said they were Iraqi citizens? Surely not any legal force of the Republic of Iraq. Do the laws of the Republic of Iraq allow for dual citizenship with Israel? Somehow, I doubt it. Previously standing laws of Iraq have legal standing today, even according to the Allawi clique.

[olddad56]

27. makes sense to me,

They want the election to have a pretense of legitimacy. You aren't going to get people in Iraq to risk their live vote. So you allow ex-patrioted Iraqis living safely in foreign countries to vote. This will give the election the false image of having more voter turnout and at the same time take any actual say in their future away from the Iraqi people.

[Vidar]

29. Dominionists 1, world nothing.