Israel's election chief asks the Shin Bet to investigate after Netanyahu's Likud claims Arab parties 'stole' the vote
Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party has filed witness statements and physical evidence with Israeli police alleging cash-filled envelopes containing Ra'am ballots were distributed to manipulate the vote.Arab parties surged to a projected record 18 or 19 seats, complicating any Gadi Eisenkot-led coalition that has been reluctant to depend on their backing.
Judge Noam Sohlberg, chair of Israel's Central Elections Committee and a Supreme Court justice, announced Thursday that he had passed the allegations to the Shin Bet after "serious suspicions" of foreign-funded interference were brought to his attention. With around 90 per cent of ballots counted, Netanyahu's bloc is on course for 53 Knesset seats against 48 for challenger Gadi Eisenkot's centrist bloc, leaving both sides well short of the 61 required for a majority. Police have already arrested four activists linked to the Arab Ra'am party over a separate bribery inquiry tied to the election.
Likud's statement accused Arab parties of "bribery, threats, violence, forgeries and prohibited software," and claimed to have hundreds of witness testimonies and envelopes of cash as evidence.
The stakes are acute: Eisenkot could reach power by building a coalition with the Arab parties' combined 19 projected seats, a prospect Likud called "dangerous to Israel."
Israel Kreis, 94, died moments after his daughter drove him to vote for Eisenkot — she said she was "very glad he managed to vote."
