Israel’s Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg ordered Shin Bet chief David Zini to investigate allegations of foreign interference, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party alleges was used to boost the Arab Israeli vote.
Israel’s Arab voters turned out in unusually high numbers relative to other recent elections. Though they make up about 20% of Israel’s population, nearly every major party has ruled out working with them. Arab voters are most opposed to Netanyahu’s bloc, and on Election Day, the prime minister warned of a high turnout among Arab voters. On Wednesday, his Likud Party began claiming widespread fraud and illegal foreign influence, with Netanyahu declaring the election had been “stolen” by Arab parties through “serious criminal offenses of bribery, threats, violence, forgeries, and the use of prohibited software to mobilize voters.”
