- But the opposition fears that he has an even more ambitious objective: to prevent the results from being certified. This would prevent the inauguration of a new parliament, in which he would lose his majority.
Driving the news: Netanyahu and his Likud party launched a campaign to delegitimize the Arab vote days before the election.
- Half of Netanyahu’s social media posts on Election Day cast suspicion on the unprecedented turnout in Arab communities, an apparent attempt to push his supporters to the polls.
- Arab voters voted in historic numbers, winning 19 seats between their two parties.
- On Wednesday, Netanyahu’s Likud party issued a statement claiming that the “elections were stolen” by Arab parties through bribery and fraud.
- His claims were based on the arrest of three activists from the Arab world. Ra’am party, suspected of having paid a small number of voters in one of the Arab towns.
- Israeli police said there was no evidence to support Likud’s claims that the elections were “stolen.”
Behind the scenes: The situation worsened dramatically on Thursday when a letter sent to the director of the Shin Bet internal security agency was leaked on Israel’s Channel 12. It was written by the Supreme Court judge who heads the Central Election Commission.
- The judge ordered the Shin Bet director to immediately investigate suspected election interference by foreign countries and submit his findings within a week.
- Shortly after the letter was leaked, Israeli media identified Qatar as the country in question. The allegation is that he funneled money to one of the Arab parties to boost participation in their communities.
- Over the past year, several of Netanyahu’s closest advisers have been investigated by the Shin Bet for allegedly being paid by Qatar to improve its image among Israelis.
Zoom: At a news conference on election day, the Shin Bet director, a political appointee of far-right Netanyahu, said the elections were “safe and secure.” He did not mention any suspicion of foreign interference.
- But the next day, the director met with the head of the central election commission and informed him of intelligence suggesting that foreign countries were sending money to one of Arab parties will increase their participation.
- Later in the day, the Shin Bet director informed Netanyahu of the intelligence, but not his opponent Gadi Eizenkot.
- Eisenkot was only informed by the Shin Bet after the letter was leaked. Later Thursday, the director also briefed outgoing opposition leader Yair Lapid.
- Informed sources say the Shin Bet had intelligence a few weeks before the elections. In a statement released Thursday, the Shin Bet said the head of the central election commission was the only person outside the security agency to know about the investigation before the election..
Zoom out: The Shin Bet said in its statement that the investigation was “focused and narrowly defined” and made clear that it did not cast doubt on the vote of the Arab minority.
- “The investigation should not be used to cast suspicion or blame an entire sector of society that exercised its democratic and legal right to vote. Only those who acted illegally will be held accountable,” the statement said.
What they say: But Netanyahu and Likud nevertheless seized it.
- After the letter was leaked Thursday, they called it an “earthquake” and again claimed, without evidence, that “the election was stolen.”
- “This is an attack on democracy aimed at enabling a foreign takeover of the Knesset, the Islamization of Israel and the overthrow of the right-wing regime in order to bring about Israeli withdrawal and the defeat of the IDF on all fronts – first and foremost in Iran,” Likud said.
- He also said that “no Zionist party should cooperate” with Arab parties to replace the Knesset speaker after the inauguration of the new parliament or to establish a new government.
The other side: Eisenkot said suspicions of foreign interference in the election must be investigated immediately and thoroughly.
- But the Knesset swearing-in must go ahead as planned, he said.
- “Netanyahu is waging an illegitimate influence campaign targeting Israeli public opinion, aimed at delaying the release of election results and manufacturing a false narrative aimed at delegitimizing the new Knesset,” Eisenkot said.
What to watch: The vote count ended Thursday with 67 seats going to the opposition parties and 53 to Netanyahu’s coalition.
- The results are expected to be certified next week, and the Knesset will be sworn in a few days later.
- The opposition plans to immediately replace the current Knesset speaker and begin passing laws – first, creating a national commission to investigate the security failures that led to the October 7 attacks. Netanyahu has blocked efforts to launch such an investigation for three years.
Yes, but: Although the opposition majority will allow it to take power in Parliament, it is unclear whether it will be able to form a government.
- This would require the support of Arab parties – and not all opposition parties are keen to join forces with them.
Gn world
