‘Ra’amgate an earthquake. Arab parties want Islamisation of Israel,’ says Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the Ra’amgate affair is an “earthquake” and accused foreign entities of interfering in the electoral process and bribing voters in favour of Arab parties. Ra’amgate refers to the allegations of vote-buying involving the Arab party Ra’am during Israel’s October 27 parliamentary election.

Israel’s Central Elections Committee ordered an investigation into allegations of foreign funding into Tuesday’s voting. CEC Chair Justice Noam Sohlberg asked Shin Bet chief David Zini to investigate allegations of foreign interference in Tuesday’s election.

“Serious suspicions have been brought to my attention regarding improper influence on the elections — exerted through funding provided by foreign entities acting against Israeli interests,” Sohlberg wrote to Shin Bet.

Sohlberg has asked Shin Bet to present the findings of the investigation within a week.

Netanyahu called on the Zionist parties to reject any tie-up with Arab parties after allegations of foreign funding of polls.

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Netanyahu said in a post on X, “The Ra’amgate affair is an earthquake. They stole the elections in Israel! The judge Solberg’s statements about the involvement of foreign entities that interfered and bribed voters in favour of the Arab parties are an unprecedented shock. This is an attack on democracy whose purpose is to lead to a foreign takeover of the Knesset, the Islamization of Israel, and the overthrow of right-wing rule in order to lead to the retreat and defeat of the IDF in all arenas – and primarily Iran.”

‘No Zionist party should cooperate with Ra’am and Joint List’

“After it was revealed that foreign entities tried to take over the Knesset, it is clear that no Zionist party should cooperate with Ra’am and the Joint List, replace the Knesset Speaker through votes bought for cash, and form a government that is dangerous to Israel. We demand to act immediately and with all means available to the Shin Bet and the police to investigate these crimes,” Netanyahu added.

Israel’s incumbent Finance Minister and Chairman of the Religious Zionism Party Bezalel Smotrich called for interrogation of the heads of the Arab parties. Smotrich said, “The suspicion of election interference with foreign Islamist money is a litmus test for the State of Israel. The heads of the Arab parties must be interrogated by the Shin Bet today. The State of Israel will not be sold to radical Islam with terrorist money.”

‘Arrest Arab party bosses,’ says Ben Gvir

Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir called for the arrest of the Arab party bosses and alleged involvement of money from Qatar.

“The Shin Bet must order, already this morning, the arrest of the heads of the Arab parties suspected of involvement in Qatari money, and of all other suspects in the affair, including figures in the Muslim Brotherhood and its offshoots, insofar as there is a legal basis for their arrest,” he said.

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Opposition bloc leader Gadi Eisenkot however, cautioned against using the investigation to delay the inauguration of the new Knesset.

The Gadi Eisenkot-led bloc doesn’t have the votes to form a government on its own, but would be above the requisite 61 seats if it partners with the two Arab parties, or forms a minority government with their support.

Four arrested for allegedly bribing voters

Four men were arrested this morning and are being interrogated by the Lahav 433 major crimes unit on suspicion of involvement in an alleged scheme to bribe voters, police say.

The scheme is the same one that led police to arrest three southern Bedouin men at dawn on Tuesday, election day, for allegedly planning to pay off people to vote for Ra’am, according to police.

Ra’am has identified the men as party activists and denied the allegations.

It is unclear if the incident is connected to the Shin Bet investigation into alleged election interference by a foreign entity.