The Shin Bet told the Central Elections Committee on Wednesday that suspected foreign funding of the election appears to be widespread and may involve “thousands of people and possibly more.” It said it needs to keep investigating before it can say how far the activity went.
The agency’s summary went to committee members shortly after the committee’s presidium approved the official results of the election for the 26th Knesset. Likud and Shas abstained. The committee said it had checked 9,069 ballot boxes and found nothing indicating that the vote had been compromised or the results changed.
According to the Shin Bet, intelligence gathered by its professionals points to large sums flowing into Israel from foreign countries, from sources with hidden and even hostile interests, intended to advance foreign influence. The agency said it must complete further collection and investigative work to “connect the dots” and establish the scale of the phenomenon with a high degree of certainty. It did not name the countries or people involved.
The Shin Bet opened the probe last Thursday on the orders of committee chair Justice Noam Sohlberg, amid reports that Qatar and Turkey funded get-out-the-vote efforts in Arab communities. Qatar has denied the allegations. On Sunday, Sohlberg, Shin Bet chief David Zini and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said jointly that the suspicions would not overturn the results even if proven.
Likud’s Erez Tadmor accused investigators on Galei Yisrael radio of skipping basic steps. “Thousands of fuel cards were distributed,” he said. “Did you call Paz? Did you call Delek? They didn’t call.”
He also turned on the attorney general, claiming she is blocking an investigation because different results, or a new election that brought a right-wing government to power, would cost her the job. “The attorney general is simply lying down on the fence to prevent an investigation into fraud and massive vote theft with huge sums by hostile states,” Tadmor said.
Baharav-Miara has clashed with Zini over the probe. In a rare statement, she accused him of undermining the rule of law by seeking to question four Arab politicians without presenting evidence of wrongdoing against most of them.
