Israel election: Authorities dispute Netanyahu’s fraud claims

Israel's election authorities have rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's allegations of fraud in Arab communities during this week's legislative election. The Supreme Court judge who heads Israel's Central Election Committee, No'am Sohlberg, sent a letter to the internal security agency Shin Bet to investigate the claims, though he noted he was 'unable to testify' as to their validity.

Likud's statement accused Arab parties Ra'am and the Joint List of using 'severe criminal offenses' to spur voter turnout, including bribery and threats. The party claimed 'the elections in the State of Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state,' though their own coalition lost seats in the vote.

Authorities refute allegations

Israeli police stated there is no evidence to support Likud's claims, noting 'election day went with a minority of irregular incidents in the area of election integrity, also compared to other elections.' Dean Livne, the Central Election Committee's acting director general, told Israeli public broadcaster Kan 11 that the committee received 'claims rather than evidence' from Likud.

Political reactions

Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu's main competitor and head of the Yashar party, blamed the Israeli leader for leading an 'improper influence operation' to cast doubt on the elections. However, he also called for Likud's allegations of electoral fraud to be investigated. The religious Muslim Ra'am party denied any involvement and said it would cooperate with any investigation.

Qatar released a statement denying any involvement in the Israeli elections, calling them 'false propaganda aimed at dragging Qatar's name into Israel's political conflicts.' The controversy comes against the backdrop of growing polarization in Israeli politics and increasing public distrust between rival political camps.

Historic Arab turnout

Arab and Palestinian participation in this week's election was unprecedented, with turnout jumping from around 50% in 2022 to about 80% in 2026. This resulted in huge success for the Joint List and Ra'am, with 11 and eight parliament seats respectively, compared to six and four in the 2022 election.

Amira Halperin, a senior fellow at the Palm Beach Center for Democracy and Policy Research, suggested Likud's motivation could be to decrease Arab influence on Israeli politics. 'The Arab votes were very, very important in this election,' she said, warning that such allegations could hurt public trust in the election process.

Shin Bet investigation

Israeli media reports suggested some of Likud's concerns were based on intelligence assessments examined by the Shin Bet, though the agency has not publicly confirmed any findings. Public broadcaster Kan reported the suspicions' extent as 'relatively small,' while Israeli daily Ha'aretz said the reports are 'being blown out of proportion.'

David Zini, the head of Shin Bet, said on election day that the elections in Israel are 'safe, sound and supervised.' Separately, the Shin Bet has been investigating several of Netanyahu's closest aides on allegations of undisclosed ties to Qatar, though these investigations are unrelated to the current election allegations.