Likud Submits Vote-Buying Evidence to Police and Shin Bet

Likud is handing hundreds of testimonies and supporting evidence to the police, the Shin Bet and the Central Elections Committee, the body overseeing the vote. The party accuses Arab parties of stealing Israel's election through vote-buying, threats and voting under duplicate identities at polling stations in Arab communities. Likud says the evidence includes thousands of envelopes containing both cash and Ra'am ballots.

The party alleges that the offenses included bribery, threats, violence, fraud and the use of banned voter-mobilization software. Its list of incidents covers violence and intimidation directed at polling officials, several voters entering a booth together, and mismatches between the number of ballot envelopes and the number of registered voters. Likud is demanding a thorough investigation and immediate action to bring those responsible to justice.

The charges land while the result remains unsettled. As of 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, with 77.6% of valid votes counted, the Netanyahu bloc held 54 seats, the Eisenkot bloc 49 and the Arab parties 17. More than half a million double-envelope votes, ballots cast by soldiers, security personnel and evacuees, were still waiting to be counted.

Ballot counting underway (Photo: Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Likud had already raised concerns on election day. On Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post reported that the party had lodged 775 complaints with the committee over alleged misconduct and attempted fraud in Arab-majority localities. Earlier that day, Likud said it had received 620 reports of irregularities through a network of more than 1,500 representatives across the country.

Roughly a third of those reports dealt with voters' personal details being recorded and sent outside polling stations. Sixty-six concerned ballot papers and envelopes. Twenty-six described trouble verifying voters' identities or exercising the authority of polling committee members, and 17 involved violence and threats. In Fassuta, 10 sealed envelopes were reported missing from a polling station. In Jadeidi-Makr, the number of envelopes differed by 11 from the recorded voter count.

Sagi Keisler, head of Likud's election integrity headquarters for the Arab sector, accused the committee of placing high turnout ahead of oversight. He objected to an instruction from the committee's director-general to prevent overcrowding at polling stations.

"The Elections Committee is cutting corners precisely where stricter oversight is needed. We are receiving hundreds of reports of suspected irregularities, including missing envelopes and the unauthorized transmission of information. We demand an immediate investigation into these suspicions, the deployment of independent observers, and guarantees of a proper and transparent voting process," Keisler said.

Separately, on Wednesday morning, a group of right-wing ministers and lawmakers wrote urgently to the committee's chairman, Noam Sohlberg, and to Shin Bet head David Zini, demanding that every vote cast for Ra'am be disqualified.

The initiative was led by Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzchak Kroizer. Signatories included Ministers Amichai Eliyahu and Amichai Chikli, Simcha Rothman, MK Ohad Tal and Zehut chairman Moshe Feiglin.

Police arrested three Negev residents on election day after finding tens of thousands of shekels in cash in envelopes, along with voting slips. The suspects live in the Segev Shalom and Arara areas. The lawmakers say some of the envelopes bore the words "Gift from the Islamic Movement," and that one suspect is a senior figure in the 48 Aid Association, which they link to Ra'am. The allegations against the suspects have not been proven in court.

The signatories also cited observers' reports that voters near polling stations received fuel cards and gift cards in return for supporting Ra'am. These claims have not been independently verified. The lawmakers called Arab turnout, which they put at about 80%, an unexplained surge, compared with 53.2% in 2022 and 44.6% in 2021. They want Ra'am's representatives barred from the Knesset until the matter is cleared up, and they gave the authorities 24 hours to report on investigative steps.

Ra'am, the party led by Mansour Abbas, had not responded to the accusations. The police investigation remains ongoing.