Foreign Election Funding Won't Overturn Israel Vote Results

Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Shin Bet chief David Zini declared in a joint statement that suspected foreign funding aimed at influencing Israel's election will not invalidate the results, even if the suspicions are proven.

The three officials described the suspicions as serious. They nevertheless confirmed that the outcome of the vote will stand.

The statement comes from the officials directly responsible for running the election, advising the government on the law and leading the security investigation into the alleged funding.

The position stands in direct contrast to a demand made on Sunday by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, chairman of Otzma Yehudit. Ben Gvir said that if the elections were skewed by foreign money, new elections must be held as soon as possible. He also called for the lawmaker under suspicion to be put on trial and for prison time to be sought.

"No one is allowed to steal our elections from us. Anyone who sells elections for money belongs in prison, not in the Knesset of Israel," Ben Gvir said.

Ben Gvir was responding to a report published Sunday by i24NEWS, which said that one of the Joint List's MKs is at the center of the investigation.

The probe itself was opened last Thursday, when Sohlberg ordered the Shin Bet to investigate the alleged foreign election funding. On the same day, Shlomo Filber, a former aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused Qatar of seeking to take over the Knesset.

Shlomo Filber (Photo: Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)

"The Shin Bet brought information, and the chairman of the Elections Committee ordered an investigation to be opened immediately," Filber wrote at the time. He warned that anyone moving to replace the Knesset speaker before the questions about the integrity of the vote in the Arab sector were resolved would be "a partner to Qatar's attempts to take over the Knesset." His remarks came as the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot was organizing to replace the speaker with the backing of the Joint List and Ra'am.

Further updates to follow.