Tibi Says Netanyahu Aide Lobbied Him on Defendant Law

Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi on Friday held up to a television camera WhatsApp messages that he said were sent to him by Natan Eshel, a longtime confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Tibi said the messages were an attempt to keep his party from backing the so-called "defendant law," a proposal to bar a lawmaker facing criminal charges from forming a government, and from joining forces with Gadi Eisenkot.

Tibi made the claims in an interview with Ofira Asayag, Barak Seri and Eli Ohana on Channel 12. During the interview he sharply criticized Netanyahu over a speech the prime minister delivered on Tuesday in the Knesset's Chagall Hall, accusing him of incitement against the Arab public and its elected representatives. He then took out his phone and displayed the correspondence on air.

Tibi said the messages were meant to influence his positions and his party's votes in the Knesset in the days before the elections and on the night the results came out. Addressing the prime minister directly, he said: "Netanyahu, Bibi, listen, I don't usually reveal conversations and I don't reveal WhatsApp messages. You sent me your personal aide, your personal adviser, on October 20, a week before the elections. You sent him to message me again on October 21. You also sent him at 11:30 p.m., after the results were published on the 27th."

When the hosts asked who had sent the messages, Tibi named Eshel. He said the contacts were aimed at heading off political and legislative moves in the Knesset. "He, like you, was afraid of the defendant law. You wanted to convince me and us not to support the defendant law," Tibi said.

He added that the election-night message was intended to stop his faction from aligning with the opposing bloc. "Then on election day, at 11:30 p.m., you wanted to dissuade us from joining Eisenkot," he said.

The disclosure comes after Eisenkot, chairman of the Yashar! party, sharply attacked Netanyahu over what he called a "racist campaign" against the Arab public.

Eshel, a former chief of staff at the prime minister's Balfour Street residence and a key figure in Netanyahu's inner circle, also contacted Ra'am leader Abbas repeatedly. According to the outlet, those contacts came before the elections, during voting day and after the results were published. Eshel was trying to find out whether Ra'am would provide a parliamentary safety net for a government headed by Eisenkot, and to persuade it not to.

According to that report, in one of the first approaches before the election, Eshel asked Abbas whether he would allow Eisenkot to pass the military draft law in the Knesset. Abbas replied at the time: "We'll wait for the election results and decide accordingly." When the results came out, Eshel asked him directly: "Will you help Eisenkot?" Ra'am chose not to respond.

Eshel approached Abbas again after Netanyahu began publicly attacking the "change bloc" for planning to rely on the Arab factions, the outlet reported. This time he asked: "Will you help Eisenkot in the Knesset, even though he doesn't want you in the coalition?"

Likud's office said: "Netanyahu was surprised by the report and did not know about the contacts. It was not done with his approval." It was not clear whether the statement also referred to Tibi's claims.