From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 2, 2026
Court accepts police appeal against release of one of the Ra’am vote-buying suspects, extends remand by 2 days
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleThe Beersheba District Court extends until Wednesday the remand of a suspect in the alleged Ra’am vote-buying scheme, accepting a police appeal against yesterday’s lower court decision to release him to house arrest.
The suspect, Ibrahim al-Garibi, is one of three Bedouin men detained in connection with the case hours before the polls opened on Tuesday.
Citing a confidential dossier submitted by police, District Court judge Dina Cohen lets police keep Garibi in custody for two more days to complete specific probes that police said were “corruptible” if Garibi were released.
The “dynamic” nature of the investigation justifies “extending the remand for investigative purposes, after the reasonable suspicion was sufficiently established even at this stage,” Cohen rules after hearing police’s appeal of the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court decision.
The Magistrate’s Court yesterday rejected police’s motion for an eight-day extension of Garibi’s remand, saying the suspicions against him had weakened and that investigators had failed to disprove Garibi’s explanation for the cash that police found in a warrantless search of his home.
The Magistrate’s Court ordered Garibi be released to house arrest, but delayed implementation until noon today to give police time to appeal.
The Times of Israel Community.