Shlomo Filber, a former aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Thursday that Qatar had sought to take over the Knesset, after Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg ordered a Shin Bet probe into alleged foreign election funding.
“Let’s say it simply and clearly: Qatar sought to take over the Knesset,” Filber wrote. “The Shin Bet brought information, and the chairman of the Elections Committee ordered an investigation to be opened immediately.”
Filber went on to warn the opposition against moving to replace the Knesset speaker while the investigation is underway. “Anyone who tries to ‘take over the Knesset’ and replace the speaker before the findings on the integrity of the elections in the Arab sector are finally clarified is a partner to Qatar’s attempts to take over the Knesset,” he said.
His remarks come as the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot is organizing to replace the Knesset speaker with the backing of the Joint List and Ra’am. According to Kan News, the leading candidates for the post are Oded Forer of Yisrael Beytenu and Elazar Stern of Eisenkot’s party.
The allegations center on outside groups allegedly funding efforts to sway the election against Israel’s interests. Sohlberg stopped short of drawing conclusions, writing that he “cannot attest to the nature of the above suspicions.”
It is not yet clear where the money came from. Journalist Amit Segal reported that large amounts of Qatari and Turkish money were funneled through terror-financing channels to drive up Arab turnout. According to The Jerusalem Post, the suspicion is that Arab groups poured large sums into illegally boosting turnout in the Arab sector.
