Times of Israel, on Targeting

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Elections panel says it is reviewing all fraud allegations after Likud ...

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Elections panel says it is reviewing all fraud allegations after Likud demand for

Ariela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.

The Central Elections Committee says it is reviewing allegations of election fraud and irregularities raised by all parties, following a demand by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud for an investigation into alleged widespread fraud in yesterday’s election.

“The Central Elections Committee has launched its election-integrity monitoring operation, as it does in every election, as part of which all inquiries from parties concerning election integrity or alleged errors in the results will be examined,” the committee says in a statement.

Likud had claimed the election was “stolen” by Arab parties.

The CEC notes that its acting director general, Dean Livne, informed all electoral lists of the procedure on October 25, two days before the election, inviting them to submit details of polling stations whose results they believe warrant examination.

“The committee received Likud’s request and is reviewing it as part of this operation,” the CEC says.

The allegations follow , with the Arab-led parties, Ra’am and the Joint List, projected to reach a historic combined high of 19 seats.

The accusations continue Likud’s efforts throughout the campaign to , whose support could prove decisive in forming an opposition government. While Netanyahu’s bloc is projected to fall short of a majority despite Likud emerging as the largest party, the Jewish-led opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot could still form a government with Arab support. But some opposition parties have rejected that idea, and it is a prospect Likud has consistently sought to discredit.

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What we found (1)

The Times of Israel reports fairly that the Central Elections Committee is reviewing Likud's fraud claims and attributes the 'stolen' charge to Likud. In its own voice it calls the voters behind the record turnout 'Arab voters' and their parties 'Arab parties' and never names them as Palestinian citizens of Israel. The reader is cut off from who these citizens are as a people.

  1. Erases a people's national identity

    Serious

    “unprecedented turnout among Arab voters”

    Why this matters
    The outlet, in its own voice, names the citizens whose record turnout is the news as 'Arab voters' and nothing else.
    The impression it gives
    A reader takes these voters to be an ethnic minority inside Israel with no link to the Palestinian people.
    The context
    Survey evidence shows most Arab citizens of Israel describe themselves in terms that include Palestinian. The article never uses the word Palestinian anywhere, so the turnout of Palestinian citizens of Israel is presented with their national identity removed.

    How we know

    • On the recordIn Sammy Smooha's April-June 2019 survey of 718 adult Arab citizens of Israel, including Druze and Bedouin, 61.9% chose a self-description containing Palestinian. This is historical survey evidence, not a 2026 percentage or proof of any individual's identity. Arab and Palestinian identities can coexist.newscord.org (opens in a new tab)
    • Our analysis“61.9% chose a description of themselves that included Palestinian.”Palestinian citizens of Israel voted in record numbers
    • Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “Palestinian”.

    Show it in the article

    “delegitimize Arab political parties”

    Why this matters
    The outlet's own sentence about Likud's campaign calls the parties it targets 'Arab political parties', an ethnic label in place of a national one.
    The impression it gives
    A reader understands Likud's campaign as aimed at parties defined only by ethnicity, not at the political representation of Palestinian citizens of Israel.
    The context
    The parties concerned, Ra'am and the Joint List, are named in the article, and the people they represent are largely Palestinian citizens of Israel by their own description in survey evidence. The article never says so.

    How we know

    • Elsewhere in the article“the Arab-led parties, Ra'am and the Joint List”
    • On the recordIn Sammy Smooha's April-June 2019 survey of 718 adult Arab citizens of Israel, including Druze and Bedouin, 61.9% chose a self-description containing Palestinian. This is historical survey evidence, not a 2026 percentage or proof of any individual's identity. Arab and Palestinian identities can coexist.newscord.org (opens in a new tab)

    Show it in the article

    “probe of Arab parties”

    Why this matters
    The headline line describes the target of Likud's demand as 'Arab parties' in the outlet's words, the label carried to the top of the story.
    The impression it gives
    From the headline a reader learns only that an ethnic bloc of parties is under suspicion.
    The context
    The headline is where most readers meet the story, and it gives no sign that the parties and voters involved are Palestinian citizens of Israel, an identity the editorial evidence shows most of them hold.

    How we know

    • Our analysis“In Sammy Smooha's 2019 survey of 718 adult Arab citizens of Israel”Palestinian citizens of Israel voted in record numbers
    • On the recordIn Sammy Smooha's April-June 2019 survey of 718 adult Arab citizens of Israel, including Druze and Bedouin, 61.9% chose a self-description containing Palestinian. This is historical survey evidence, not a 2026 percentage or proof of any individual's identity. Arab and Palestinian identities can coexist.newscord.org (opens in a new tab)

    Show it in the article

    Written straight

    The allegations follow record turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel, with Ra'am and the Joint List projected to reach a combined high of 19 seats.

How other outlets reported it

Our analysisPalestinian citizens of Israel voted in record numbers

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