Israel’s Shin Bet security agency is investigating suspicions that a serving Joint List member of Knesset received thousands of shekels from Qatar and that the party used the money during its election campaign. Israeli broadcaster i24NEWS first reported the investigation on Sunday, November 1. The lawmaker’s identity had not been disclosed by Sunday afternoon.
Investigators are considering several possible uses for the alleged payments, ranging from ordinary campaign financing to election bribery. However, they said they currently have no evidence showing what the money was actually spent on. The evidence behind the suspected connection to Qatar also remains unclear.
The inquiry follows a broader Shin Bet investigation into suspected efforts by foreign entities to send money into Israel to influence voting in Arab communities. Qatar and Turkey were identified as possible sources in those suspicions. Justice Noam Sohlberg, chairman of the Central Elections Committee, called on Thursday for an investigation to be opened.
According to a separate report by N12 News, the Shin Bet possessed intelligence before the election concerning potentially illegal money transfers. The broadcaster reported that the agency had not shared that information with the Central Elections Committee or its chairman, Sohlberg.
Separately, police rejected a wider allegation by Likud that the election had been stolen. In a statement reported on Thursday morning, police said there had been relatively few incidents involving election integrity on Election Day. They also said neither their investigations nor their intelligence provided support for the allegations presented to them.
Qatar denied Likud’s accusations of interference in Israel’s elections last week. Writing on X/Twitter, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari rejected allegations that Qatar had intervened in the vote or paid for activities aimed at affecting its outcome. He accused some Israeli politicians and their media contacts of trying to involve Qatar in domestic political disputes after the elections.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who chairs Otzma Yehudit, called the foreign bribery allegations “extremely grave.” He urged imprisonment for any Knesset member whose involvement in the alleged scheme was proven.
Ben-Gvir said that, if foreign money was shown to have financed election bribery and distorted the results, it would represent a serious corruption scandal and an attack on Israeli democracy and sovereignty. He also called for new elections to take place as soon as possible if the suspected bribery was established.
