Both election interference probes involving Arab parties reportedly falling apart
Israeli TV reports on tensions between Shin Bet chief David Zini and police, with an official from the latter saying 'there's a huge gap between his claims and the reality'
After significant alarm from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials, Israeli television reported Friday that two election interference investigations involving the pair of Arab-led parties were falling apart.
The first case in which three Bedouin activists were arrested for allegedly trying to bribe voters to back the Ra’am party is expected to be closed unless new evidence is uncovered, according to Channel 12 news.
The second case involving an alleged foreign funding effort to back the Joint List is also turning out to be very different from what was initially described and has led to a major crisis of confidence in Netanyahu loyalist and Shin Bet chief David Zini, the report said.
“We have lost confidence in the head of the Shin Bet,” a senior police official was quoted as saying.
Accordingly, Channel 12 reported that Deputy Commissioner Boaz Blatt — who heads the police’s investigations and intelligence division — barred subordinates from transferring any information regarding the case to the Shin Bet without his approval.
The network — which a day earlier reported that Zini compared the alleged foreign interference the shock invasions in 2023 and 1973 that respectively sparked the Gaza and Yom Kippur Wars — said it was pretty much only the Shin Bet chief who believed the investigation was a matter of national security, as opposed to police and law enforcement who believe it was a criminal matter, at most.
“There’s a huge gap between Zini’s claims and the reality,” a police official said.
Moreover, while initial media reports alleged the involvement of Qatar, none of the intelligence material provided by the Shin Bet to the police reportedly makes any mention of the Gulf state.
Instead, the money involved was believed to come from the West Bank, and it was not yet clear who is behind those funds, Channel 12 said.
The network cited an official inside the Shin Bet who blasted Zini’s conduct, saying it was now even clearer that he was trying “to serve his master” — Netanyahu, who has claimed that the elections were “stolen” and opposed the certification of the results in light of the two investigations.
Friday’s reporting came a day after the Shin Bet and police officials agreed to establish a joint task force to investigate the election interference allegations together with the State Attorney’s Office, indicating growing tensions between the parties.
Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg had earlier announced the creation of a joint Shin Bet, police and State Attorney’s Office team, but that task force did not convene, and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara accused the Shin Bet of withholding evidence.
The investigations followed allegations by Netanyahu’s Likud party that the October 27 election was “stolen” by Arab parties, citing claims of bribery, intimidation, forgery and other irregularities following record Arab turnout that helped deprive Netanyahu’s bloc of a parliamentary majority.
Sohlberg later instructed Zini to investigate “serious suspicions” that foreign entities acting against Israeli interests had funded efforts to influence the election.
Since then, Sohlberg has decried the stigmatization of Arab voters and said the alleged interference would not have swayed the result of the election, adding that the undermining of the election results was the “real danger.”