In the next week, two sets of elections will be held on two continents, the outcomes of which could have profound consequences for the world.

By a fluke of electoral timetabling, millions of voters around 6,000 miles apart will unite in exercising their democratic rights within days of each other.

Voters in Israel go to the polls on Tuesday to elect a new parliament; a week later, voters in the United States will elect a new Congress.

A former speaker of that Congress, Tip O'Neill, may have once said that "all politics is local". But the consequences of these elections will undoubtedly be global.

For these elections are not just proximate, they are intertwined.

The future governance of Israel will have a lasting impact on the Middle East and wars raging across the region.

And any change in the electoral map of America could shape not just those wars but also the future of the global economy.

Between the two there is a physical connection: the lobby group Republicans Overseas Israel estimates about half a million Israelis with American passports can vote in both polls.