Likud said already preparing to allege election was ‘stolen’ if Netanyahu loses

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party began preparing to challenge results from polling stations in Arab cities and towns before voting opened Tuesday morning, with Hebrew news sites on Monday quoting Likud operatives as saying that the party has discussed the possibility of claiming the vote was “stolen” if Netanyahu does not win.

According to a Channel 12 news report, Likud was already drawing up a number of complaints and allegations of fraud for voting stations in Arab communities.

Netanyahu’s party was reportedly readying to challenge women who show up to vote fully veiled as well as allegations that some polling stations have segregated voting times for men and women, having reportedly sent several thousand party activists to “monitor” polling sites in Arab-majority areas.

The broadcaster said such issues have been addressed by Central Elections Commission regulations, but that Likud was nevertheless preparing to allege fraud.

According to the Haaretz daily, the party has been preparing for a scenario in which it loses, and has discussed the possibility of alleging widespread fraud and claiming that the election was “stolen.”

“Let’s say a woman comes to vote wearing a burqa,” a Likud source told Haaretz, explaining the party’s concerns of potential voter fraud in Arab communities, “and then a few minutes later another woman comes wearing a burqa – maybe it’s the same one? We’ll have to check and verify it.”

Haaretz noted that the party activists have no authority to ask voters to identify themselves outside polling stations, and said that the Likud source did not specify what they would do if a woman refused to identify herself to them.

“In terms of preventing fraud in the Arab sector, we have made our greatest and most comprehensive effort,” the Likud source said.

“Several discussions were held around the question of what to do in the event of a loss,” a source close to Netanyahu told Haaretz.

“Unambiguous opinions were expressed in favor of a ‘the elections were stolen and rigged’ campaign,” they added, saying it would be similar to US President Donald Trump’s allegations of fraud against his predecessor, Joe Biden, in 2020.

According to the report, Netanyahu was not personally involved in these discussions, but senior Likud officials are already “preparing the possibility” that the party will allege a stolen election if Netanyahu loses and is interested in contesting the results.

Netanyahu is “considering” that option, the report said.

Civil rights groups have expressed concern over Likud’s plan to send thousands of activists to voting stations in Arab communities, since such activists will have no formal role and no authority to oversee the voting.

Given that the activists will have no official function, questions have been raised about what such people will do on election day. There are tight legal regulations on who can be present in polling stations and what they can do there, which police are required to enforce.

Central Elections Committee director general Dean Livne has said there is no evidence of widespread fraud in Israeli elections and that existing safeguards were sufficient, while Likud and the Religious Zionism party, which also said it would send observers, have not explained how they determined that Arab polling stations were at risk of fraud.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a liberal watchdog group, announced that it would be operating an election integrity hotline to report any violations of the elections law to authorities as they happen.