Israeli Politicsupdated 2h ago3 min read
Netanyahu Accuses Arab Parties of Stolen Vote as Likud Cites Bribery, Threats, Forgeries
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Likud accuses Arab parties of stealing election through bribery, intimidation, and ballot forgery. Cash envelopes and Ra’am ballots cited as alleged fraud evidence.
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Likud challenges vote legitimacy
Israel’s election legitimacy came under fresh scrutiny as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Arab parties of “stolen” the vote and Likud said “Heavy crimes were used – bribery, threats, violence, forgeries, and the use of prohibited software to mobilise voters.” Likud said it would hand “Hundreds of tips, witness statements, and documents” to Shin Bet and the police, while Central Elections Committee head Noam Sohlberg called on Shin Bet leadership to investigate the allegations. Sohlberg’s letter also urged Shin Bet to examine “the possibility of foreign interference,” and Ynet quoted anonymous officials as saying the state of Qatar may have paid “tens of millions” to manipulate the election.
“Heavy crimes were used – bribery, threats, violence, forgeries, and the use of prohibited software to mobilise voters.”
The political stakes sharpened as turnout reached 77.7 percent overall, and Sakhnin saw 86.8 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, boosting Arab parties including the Islamic Raam party and the left-wing Joint List. With Netanyahu’s coalition on 53 seats and Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition alliance on 48, Arab parties were positioned to swing government formation in the 120-seat Knesset where 61 seats were needed for a majority.
Police reject, Shin Bet probes
Israel Police pushed back on Likud’s claims, saying “there is no investigative- or intelligence-based supporting evidence for the claims,” even as vote counting continued. Central Elections Committee Chairman and Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg directed Shin Bet chief David Zini to investigate suspicions that foreign entities may have attempted to influence voting in Israel’s Arab sector, and Sohlberg referred to “severe suspicions” of improper foreign influence. Likud’s allegations centered on cash-filled envelopes and Ra’am ballot slips, and Likud said it was submitting hundreds of testimonies and pieces of evidence to the Israel Police, Shin Bet and Central Elections Committee.
Gadi Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of attempting to delegitimize the election results, and Eisenkot vowed to prevent any delay in the new Knesset’s swearing-in. Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the arrest of Arab party leaders over unsubstantiated allegations of foreign funding, while the Central Elections Committee said it would review Likud’s complaint as part of its routine process for examining election irregularities.
Coalition arithmetic and consequences
The election outcome left neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot’s bloc with the 61-seat majority in the 120-seat Knesset, and the dispute over alleged foreign interference threatened to complicate coalition talks. The Times of Israel reported that Arab parties panicked Netanyahu’s allegations as a “racist” campaign, while Qatar decried the accusation as “ridiculous and dangerous” and linked it to other allegations it rejects. Netanyahu’s Likud statement called the Ra’amgate affair “an earthquake,” and it declared “They stole the election in Israel!” as it demanded action “by the Shin Bet and the police to investigate these crimes.”
The political aftermath also turned on whether Arab-led parties could be part of a government, with Yair Golan calling the allegations an attempt to undermine the election results with a “ugly delegitimization campaign aimed at the will of the public – especially the Arab population.” As the Shin Bet investigation proceeded, the Central Elections Committee and Israel Police continued to reject claims of widespread fraud, leaving the next government’s formation dependent on how the allegations and seat projections evolve.