Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party has accused Arab parties of stealing Israel's Knesset election, alleging widespread fraud, bribery, intimidation and ballot manipulation. In a statement issued after Tuesday's vote, the party demanded that law enforcement authorities open an immediate investigation.
"The elections in the State of Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the destruction of the Jewish state through serious criminal offenses involving bribery, threats, violence, forgery, and the use of prohibited software to mobilize voters," Likud said. The party announced that it would hand hundreds of testimonies and pieces of evidence to the Israel Police, the Shin Bet and the Central Elections Committee (CEC), pointing to alleged irregularities at polling stations in Arab communities.
Among the claims were thousands of envelopes containing cash alongside ballot slips for Ra'am, threats and violence against members of polling station committees, and several voters entering voting booths together. Likud also alleged voting under duplicate identities, discrepancies between the number of envelopes and the number of registered voters, and the use of prohibited voter mobilization software.
The allegations have not been independently verified, and no evidence showing that Arab parties systematically manipulated the results has been made public. Likud called the alleged conduct a grave blow to Israeli democracy and to citizens' voting rights, and urged law enforcement to "act decisively and immediately."
The CEC confirmed that it had received Likud's complaints and said it was reviewing them as part of its routine election integrity process. It explained that it had launched a monitoring operation to examine complaints from political parties about suspected irregularities or alleged errors in the results. According to the committee, its acting director-general contacted the electoral lists on October 25, several days before the vote, to describe the procedure, under which parties submit data from polling stations where they believe the results warrant further examination.
Rahat Mayor Talal al-Krenawi rejected the accusations in comments to Walla. "Disgusting. These are lies and falsehoods. This is incitement against the Bedouins," he said. He added that for the first time, residents had voted properly, using ballot papers and identity cards, and that he had never seen elections as clean.
Al-Krenawi said he had watched residents arrive at polling stations with walking aids to cast their ballots. "Now that we have exercised our democratic right, we have stolen the elections? If they don't want to let us vote, they should say so," he said, adding that Arab citizens were being portrayed as thieves and cheats.
Separately, MK Simcha Rothman of the Religious Zionist Party, who chairs the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, wrote to Justice Noam Sohlberg and Shin Bet director David Zini. He demanded an investigation into allegations of election bribery in Arab communities, including claims that voters were offered cash, fuel cards and other benefits in exchange for voting for Ra'am, the party led by Mansour Abbas.
Rothman and the other signatories asked the authorities to report their findings within 24 hours. He also set up a dedicated email address for receiving information and reports on suspected election irregularities.
