Arab parties pan ‘racist’ campaign as PM claims alleged foreign influence plot ‘stole’ election

Leading opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot and several Arab-led party leaders on Thursday lambasted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleging that an alleged foreign interference scheme had “stolen” Tuesday’s election, as the premier’s allies lined up to demand interrogations and arrests of Arab politicians.

Qatar, reported to be at the center of the alleged scheme, also decried the accusation, calling it “ridiculous and dangerous” and linking it to other allegations of the Gulf state’s illicit dealings with Israel, which it likewise rejects.

Eisenkot also linked the allegations to Qatargate, the scandal surrounding allegations that aides advising the premier were also doing paid public relations work for Qatar.

Earlier, the Central Elections Committee asked the Shin Bet to investigate suspicions of foreign influence. CEC chairman Noam Sohlberg wrote that he “cannot attest to the substance of these suspicions,” but that there was “an obligation to investigate them thoroughly.”

After CEC letter came to light, Netanyahu shared on X a statement from his Likud party that said “the Ra’amgate affair is an earthquake,” naming the alleged scandal after the traditionalist Arab party led by Mansour Abbas, which won 7 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, according to nearly final election results.

The statement continued: “They stole the election in Israel!” It called the allegations “an unprecedented shake-up” and a “blow to democracy, whose goal is to lead to foreign domination of the Knesset, to the Islamization of Israel, to the fall of the right-wing government, and the weakening of the military.”

“We demand action, immediate and by all available means, by the Shin Bet and the police to investigate these crimes,” the statement said. It notably did not name Qatar, despite widespread reporting that the Gulf state was behind the plot.

As of midday Thursday, details about the allegations remained partial and unconfirmed. The investigation was opened even before the country went to the polls on Tuesday, according to Hebrew media reports.

Neither Netanyahu’s supporters nor his Zionist opponents won a majority in the election, which saw Arab-led parties win a record number of seats. Pivoting to the political aftermath of the vote, the Likud statement called on Netanyahu’s Jewish opponents not to form a government with Arab parties due to the allegations.

Such a government, were it to be formed, would unseat Netanyahu, and he has demonized the prospect of Arab-Jewish partnership throughout the campaign.

“After it’s been made clear that foreign actors tried to take over the Knesset, it is clear that no Zionist party can partner with Ra’am or the Joint List, replace the Knesset speaker through votes that were bought with cash, or establish a government that would be dangerous for Israel,” he declared.

Scheme said to be on smaller scale than reports suggest

The allegations of a vote-buying program funded by Qatari money came amid a broader Likud campaign to challenge election results in Arab communities after Netanyahu’s bloc lost its parliamentary majority.

Hebrew media already reported ahead of voting that Likud planned to challenge results from Arab locales and claim the election was “stolen” if Netanyahu did not win, with the party drawing up in advance a number of complaints and fraud allegations.

A source from the Israel Police told Hebrew media on Thursday there was “no investigative- or intelligence-based supporting evidence for the claims,” but Commissioner David Levy later stressed in a statement that “any complaint received… will be examined and investigated thoroughly and impartially.”

Unnamed officials told Ynet and the Kan public broadcaster, meanwhile, that the alleged electoral interference by Qatar is on a far smaller scale than reports would suggest.

“It’s a much smaller affair than is being made out. It’s not something that hasn’t happened in the past — it’s just that here it crossed a certain threshold of evidence that requires an investigation,” the source, described as “nonpolitical,” told the Ynet news site.

Unnamed sources who have been updated on the details of the Shin Bet investigation into the alleged electoral fraud told the Kan public broadcaster that the suspicions being examined are relatively small in scope.

Earlier Thursday, Dean Livne, director general of the Central Elections Committee, told Kan that there is “no basis for the claims of election theft.”

“We received a list of claims, not evidence, from the Likud party and other parties. Some of them are real, and some of them may not be,” he says.

On election day, three Ra’am operatives were arrested in the south for alleged bribery. Four more were arrested Thursday morning on suspicion of involvement in the same alleged bribery scheme, which the party has denied. It was unknown whether the arrests were tied to the broader suspicions revealed on Thursday.

On Tuesday, Zini said the vote had proceeded “well so far,” adding that “voter turnout is high, and we can confidently tell the citizens of Israel that the elections are being monitored and conducted in a proper and inspiring manner.”

Shortly after the polls closed, Likud claimed that the election was “stolen by Arab parties,” echoing statements Netanyahu made during the vote, and demanded a “thorough investigation” into alleged fraud or foreign interference, claiming the “use of illegal voter mobilization software” and noting the arrests in the south.

Ben Gvir calls for Arab party leaders’ arrest

Backing up the premier, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, chair of the far-right Religious Zionism party, wrote that “the suspicion that the elections were slanted by foreign Islamist money is a test for the State of Israel. The heads of the Arab parties must be interrogated by the Shin Bet, today. The State of Israel will not be sold to radical Islam with terror funds.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, called on the Shin Bet to “order the arrest, already this morning, of the leaders of the Arab parties suspected of involvement with Qatari money, and all the other suspects in the affair, including figures in the Muslim Brotherhood and its metastases, to the extent that there is a legal basis for their arrest.”

The prime minister’s ultra-Orthodox partners also issued condemnations, lashing out at the opposition – which ran on a pledge to end sweeping military service exemptions for Haredi men – for branding them a “draft-dodgers’ alliance” while allegedly benefiting from the purchased votes.

“You called it the ‘alliance of those who serve’? Apparently, you forgot to ask whom they serve,” said United Torah Judaism chairman MK Yaakov Asher. The Sephardi ultra-Orthodox Shas party similarly claimed that the opposition bloc was “mired in serious suspicions of vote-buying with money from enemy states that support Hamas.”

Neither party provided evidence to substantiate the accusations.

Herzog: Claims must be ‘thoroughly investigated’ but ‘we must avoid tarnishing an entire community’

President Isaac Herzog, at the President’s Residence, said he had spoken with Sohlberg and Zini and declared that the issue must be “thoroughly investigated,” while urging against “tarnishing” the Arab community as a whole.

“I am closely following developments in the investigation into the suspicions reported this morning,” he said. “The integrity of elections is a paramount value in a democracy. The evidence and suspicions must be thoroughly investigated, and the offenders must be investigated and punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

“But even at a moment like this, we must avoid tarnishing an entire community that sought to exercise its right to vote and take an active part in democracy,” he added. The president reiterated his call for politicians to approach impending coalition talks with an “open” mind, and to ask only “what is in the best interests of the country.”

‘Yet another disinformation campaign’: Qatar denies ‘ridiculous and dangerous’ allegations by PM, allies

In a statement Thursday afternoon by Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman, the emirate denied any interference in the election, calling the accusation “ridiculous and dangerous” and “yet another disinformation campaign aiming to drag Qatar into Israeli political disputes.”

“We categorically deny allegations that Qatar has interfered in Israeli elections or funded any activities intended to influence their outcome,” wrote Majed Al Ansari on X. “We reject the accusations made by certain Israeli politicians and their contacts in the media.”

Alluding to Qatargate, Ansari said that Israeli politicians “accuse Qatar of buying off Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli political left and now, in this latest campaign, the Arab vote. If these claims were to be believed, Qatar would apparently own all of Israel.”

We categorically deny allegations that Qatar has interfered in Israeli elections or funded any activities intended to influence their outcome. We reject the accusations made by certain Israeli politicians and their contacts in the media, who have launched yet another…

— د. ماجد محمد الأنصاري Dr. Majed Al Ansari (@majedalansari) October 29, 2026

He called the claims “ridiculous and dangerous in equal measure,” and said the scandal “reveals an excessive obsession with our country among certain Israeli political and media figures.”

“Qatar should not be used as a scapegoat for the political failures of certain Israeli politicians,” said Mansari. “Rather than trying to shift attention onto Qatar, they would be better off focusing on their own voters, improving people’s everyday lives, and undoing the damage they’ve created in the region.”

‘Filthy lies and baseless accusations’: Joint List says PM trying to steal election with ‘racist’ smear campaign

The Arab-led Joint List, meanwhile, accused Netanyahu of “racist” lies meant to undermine the election results, and called on opposition leaders to reject what they characterized as a campaign of incitement against Arab voters, and to cooperate with Arab parties to replace his government.

“We are done apologizing and defending ourselves against filthy lies and baseless accusations from right-wing figures who refuse to accept the election results,” the Joint List said in a statement. “These racist accusations only demonstrate how afraid they are of the power of our community.”

The party accused Likud figures of financing a coordinated campaign to delegitimize Arab political participation that began months before the election, including attempts to disqualify Arab parties and alleged intimidation of voters at polling stations.

“We turned out to vote in unprecedented numbers and achieved a historic result, both for our community and for the entire democratic camp,” it said. “No smear campaign will erase the Arab public’s achievement.”

Balad chairman Sami Abou Shehadeh issued a more scathing condemnation, calling the prime minister’s coalition “dangerous people who are constructing a narrative to justify refusing to accept the results of one of the most decisive elections this country has seen in decades.”

“In any functioning democracy, those who lose an election take responsibility and go home. In Israel, the losing side fabricates a racist blood libel and calls on security agencies to use force to overturn the election results,” he wrote.

Warning against attempts to “steal the election or drag the country into another election on the basis of false and outrageous allegations,” Abou Shehadeh declared: “You lost. Go home.”

Abou Shehadeh’s party is part of the Arab-led Joint List, which won 12 seats in addition to Ra’am’s 7. However, he himself was barred from running by the Central Elections Committee and will not enter the next Knesset. The disqualification was based on the content of an article that he wrote appearing to justify the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack; the Supreme Court interpreted it as endorsing armed struggle against Israel, though he has rejected this interpretation.

Ra’am’s Abbas vows to fully cooperate with probe: ‘There will be nothing, because there is nothing’

Separately, Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas denied any involvement in alleged foreign interference, and accused Netanyahu of incitement against Arab citizens in response to the unprecedented electoral gains made by Arab parties.

“Ra’am has no connection whatsoever to the affair in question or to any other such affairs,” he said in a statement, pledging to cooperate fully with law enforcement.

He welcomed Sohlberg’s request for a Shin Bet investigation, saying “safeguarding the integrity of elections and upholding the rule of law are civic and democratic duties to which we are firmly committed.”

Then, Abbas invoked the Qatargate affair, using the moniker Netanyahu has adopted in the past when trying to court Arab votes.

“To Abu Yair, who employs Qatari agents in his office, we have one message in response to the campaign of incitement and delegitimization he is waging against Arab citizens: There will be nothing [found], because there is nothing,” Abbas wrote, echoing language the premier has used when talking about his corruption trial. “But unlike you, in our case, it is the truth and not just another lie.”

Eisenkot: PM ‘accustomed to dealing with reality through lies,’ wants to undermine election

Gadi Eisenkot, whose opposition Yashar party is projected to be the second-largest in the Knesset, accused the prime minister of an “illegitimate” and “fictitious” campaign, and skewered the premier for his own alleged ties to Qatar.

“Israel must do everything in its power to safeguard the integrity of the elections against any attempt at interference, spin or manipulation, and thoroughly investigate every complaint,” Eisenkot said in a brief statement. “At the same time, political actors must not be allowed to exploit the situation to influence the date of the swearing-in of the 26th Knesset.”

A short while later, he issued a lengthier statement, assailing Netanyahu for hypocrisy, given several of the premier’s own top aides have been embroiled in scandals surrounding Qatar.

“I commend Netanyahu for finally condemning Qatari involvement in the State of Israel,” Eisenkot said sarcastically.

“Foreign involvement in Israel is an unacceptable and gravely serious matter, especially when it involves a country that funds and supports the Hamas organization,” said Eisenkot. “This is grave when it happens in the Prime Minister’s Office and grave if it occurs in the election system.”

Eisenkot said that Netanyahu “has grown accustomed to dealing with reality through lies, information engineering, and sowing chaos” and is running “an illegitimate influence operation on the Israeli public aimed at delaying the publication of election results on time and creating fictitious delegitimization for the activities of the 26th Knesset.”

He said it was unacceptable that Netanyahu was trying to use a new investigation that had not been completed “to undermine the official election results.”

He called for an “impartial, thorough, and immediate” investigation, and demanded that “an iron fist” be used against anyone tampering with the integrity of elections.

“Every decision pertaining to the elections must be made with utmost reverence and with the understanding that the convening of the 26th Knesset must take place on time,” Eisenkot stressed. “Realizing the will of the voter in democratic elections is a foundational component of Israeli democracy and national resilience.”

Liberman: Claim ‘dramatic,’ must be investigated

Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman, whose hawkish party is part of the opposition bloc, called Sohlberg’s letter to the Shin Bet a “dramatic and unprecedented development,” and urged law enforcement authorities to “act swiftly to uncover the truth as soon as possible.”

Later, in a second X post, he reiterated that he would not sit in a government with Netanyahu, or with the Joint List, or the Haredi parties, “not directly, and not indirectly.”