About 2,000 kilometers separate Zionist Street in Ashdod from the battle zones in Ukraine.
But a quick glance at one of the high-rises on this street is enough to understand that despite the distance, the war between Russia and Ukraine does not leave many Israelis who immigrated from the former Soviet Union indifferent.
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The facade of the building presents a typical purpose display: five Ukrainian flags, adjacent to Israeli flags, on the various floors, and between them a single Russian flag is hoisted on the floor in the middle.
This flagship math may seem like a curiosity, but not in an election year.
As the time for going to the polls approaches, the fiery battle of flags on the balconies may resonate in the Israeli political arena.
Will the war in Ukraine become a major issue for the immigrants when it comes to deciding which party to vote for?
This is not a false hypothesis: quite a few voters have already reported being disappointed with the parties that voted for them in the past, precisely because of the stuttering and inaction on the Ukrainian issue.
Vyacheslav Feldman, chairman of the "Israeli Friends of Ukraine" organization, is convinced that events in Ukraine will have an impact on the electoral preferences of Israeli citizens born in it and in the other republics of the former USSR.
He says thousands are keeping an eye on politicians' reactions to the war to decide who to vote for on November 1.
Not everyone shares Feldman's opinion.
Avner Korin, editor of the leading Russian-language news site haifaru.co.il, agrees that the Ukrainian issue is gaining unprecedented interest among Russian speakers in the country, but warns that this should not have immediate consequences for voting patterns.
According to him, there is a huge difference between the veteran immigrants, whose decision stems from core Israeli issues, and the "fresh" immigrants, who arrived in the last years before the Russian invasion, and immediately after it, and in their minds still live the problems of the country of origin.
Alongside this, several new sectoral lists are brewing in the "Russian Street."
One of them, called "Civil Power", is based on Russian-speaking voters, but seeks to bring about a nationwide renovation in the country.
And if we are talking about the right-left, then about 80 percent of all immigrants from the USSR still define themselves as right-wing, while at the same time lamenting the right that does not appreciate it and does not put their representatives on the lists. Boris from Ashdod Think we're always in their pocket, a bit like a man who's sure a woman who likes him will always be by his side.
But in politics, as in love, one has to woo. "
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