Police have informed the State Attorney's Office that there is no suspicion of security offenses by heads of Arab parties or any necessity to interrogate them over allegations of foreign interference in the October 27 election. Multiple Hebrew media outlets reported this development on Tuesday, noting that the assessment was filed the day prior. The report also found insufficient grounds to suspect former Joint List chair Ayman Odeh of serious wrongdoing, despite claims that he received hundreds of thousands of shekels from abroad.
These reports, if confirmed, represent a significant setback for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assertion that the election was stolen. This contention has been largely based on the foreign interference probe, which was championed by his appointed Shin Bet head, David Zini. Election officials have previously stated that the vote was conducted properly, and law enforcement has described the probes into election misconduct as limited in scope. In recent days, anonymous police and judicial sources have indicated that the probe appears to have little merit.
The State Attorney's Office is expected to formulate its own assessment, which will be submitted to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. She will hold the final authority on whether to pursue the case. Sagi Keizler, director of the Likud Party election integrity headquarters, criticized the police for what she described as burying valid concerns about irregularities in the Arab community. Keizler stated that 1,281 detailed complaints were filed with police a week earlier, including dozens of incidents raising serious suspicion of election bribery, yet none had been investigated.
Keizler expressed regret that police appeared to be joining the Central Elections Committee in burying evidence and complaints instead of conducting a thorough investigation. Reports indicate that Zini had sought to interrogate Odeh over the alleged foreign cash, as well as senior Arab politicians Sami Abou Shahadeh, Yousef Jabareen, Mansour Abbas, and Ahmad Tibi, despite a lack of real evidence of wrongdoing against the latter four. A senior unnamed security official told the Haaretz daily that Zini made the exceptional decision to authorize various technological means to gather evidence, prioritizing this case over other national security tasks.
Zini also approved an operational unit to collect evidence on the allegations. Unnamed Shin Bet and law enforcement officials have widely criticized Zini's conduct, accusing him of baselessly manufacturing allegations of foreign interference. One senior source told Haaretz that people in the service are going to great lengths to support the position of the Shin Bet head and his deputy, who refuse to retreat despite clear exit strategies. Another source argued that a government inquiry should be launched over the Shin Bet's handling of the case, stating that Zini does not understand his role or the danger of his conduct.
Channel 13 cited a source familiar with the developments as saying there is really no drama and it is unclear why such a fuss was made. Another source described Zini's rush to pursue the case as unprofessional, noting that one does not rattle the whole country over nothing. The initial claims suggested that Qatar was suspected of funneling a large sum of money to Israel to encourage Arab citizens to vote. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir stated the alleged sum was about 100 million shekels in cash and gasoline coupons, but recent media reports indicate the Shin Bet has failed to provide evidence for anywhere near that amount. Haaretz reported that major gas companies have seen no unusual spike in coupon use.
In a statement on Sunday, Baharav-Miara said she had not seen anything in the investigations of possible election fraud that would even remotely influence the outcome of last month's vote. Netanyahu has used the allegations to suggest Arab parties stole the October 27 Knesset election, which saw him lose his parliamentary majority amid massive Arab voter turnout. Citing the purportedly stolen election, Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party voted against certifying the results and has already submitted draft legislation to dissolve the Knesset that was sworn in yesterday.
