Criminal probe sought for Netanyahu chief of staff Ido Nordan

Israeli Democracy Watch has asked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman to open a criminal investigation into officials in the Prime Minister's Office, led by acting chief of staff Ido Nordan, on suspicion of attempting to interfere with the integrity of elections to the 26th Knesset.

According to the letter, citing a report by the Seventh Eye news site, Nordan passed what was described as "intelligence information" on Ra'am party activists directly to senior police officials on the night of October 26–27. The call reportedly included the deputy police commissioner and head of the Investigations and Intelligence Division, Chief Superintendent Boaz Bellet. Hours later, officers from the Southern District's central unit conducted warrantless searches at the homes of three activists in Segev Shalom and Ar'ara.

The watchdog group described a sequence of events that it says points to an attempt to disrupt the election, including the distribution of videos by the prime minister during the campaign in which he called on the public to vote and warned of election theft by the Arab sector.

The letter describes how developments in the case after the election further strengthened the impression that the incident was fabricated and inflated for propaganda purposes. In the days following the vote, the evidentiary basis weakened further: the Beer Sheva Magistrate's Court ordered the release of most of the suspects. One suspect told investigators that the money was intended for charity for needy families. According to him, the ballot slips were meant to show voters who cannot read and write which slip to choose.

The organization is asking to investigate Nordan on suspicion of three offenses: interference with elections (Section 197 of the Penal Law), providing false information (Section 243), and fraud and breach of trust (Section 284). The group wants to know whether Netanyahu was briefed before the arrests and whether the police worked in coordination with the Likud election campaign.

Israeli Democracy Watch is also asking the prosecution to immediately order the preservation of call logs, correspondence, and materials prepared for publications in the Prime Minister's Office. The letter is signed by attorneys Doron Barkat and Ella Honigman.

Nordan has not responded to the allegations.