Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party accused Arab parties of allegedly stealing Israel's Knesset election through widespread electoral fraud, bribery, intimidation, and ballot manipulation, demanding an immediate investigation by law enforcement authorities in a statement following Tuesday's vote.
"The elections in the State of Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the destruction of the Jewish state through serious criminal offenses involving bribery, threats, violence, forgery, and the use of prohibited software to mobilize voters," the party said.
Likud announced that it would submit hundreds of testimonies and pieces of evidence to the Israel Police, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and the Central Elections Committee, alleging extensive irregularities at polling stations in Arab communities.
Likud alleges incidents involving ballot envelopes stuffed with cash, threats of violence, and general misconduct
The party cited allegations involving thousands of envelopes containing cash alongside ballot slips for Ra'am, threats and violence against polling station committee members, multiple voters entering voting booths together, voting under duplicate identities, discrepancies between the number of envelopes and registered voters, and the use of prohibited voter mobilization software.
The allegations have not been independently verified, and no evidence establishing that Arab parties systematically manipulated the election results has been made public.
"We demand that the police and Shin Bet conduct a thorough investigation into the theft of the elections by the Arab parties and bring the offenders to justice," Likud said.
"We demand that the Central Elections Committee immediately address the investigation of these criminal offenses, which have severely compromised the integrity of Israel's elections and the election results."
The party described the alleged conduct as a serious violation of democratic principles.
"This is a grave blow to Israeli democracy and the voting rights of Israeli citizens. Law enforcement agencies must act decisively and immediately," the statement concluded.
The CEC confirmed that it had received Likud's complaints and was examining them as part of its routine election integrity review, saying it had launched its election integrity monitoring operation to examine complaints submitted by political parties concerning suspected irregularities or alleged errors in the results.
The committee said its acting director-general had contacted the electoral lists on October 25, several days before the election, to inform them of the review process.
Under the procedure, parties submit data from polling stations where they believe the results require further examination.
"The committee has received Likud's submission and is examining it as part of this process," the CEC said.
Rahat mayor rejects Likud allegations: 'Lies and incitement against Bedouins'
Rahat Mayor Talal al-Krenawi strongly rejected Likud's allegations of election fraud, calling them lies and incitement against the Bedouin community in comments to Walla.
"Disgusting. These are lies and falsehoods. This is incitement against the Bedouins," al-Krenawi said.
"For the first time in history, we voted properly, with the ballot papers and identity cards. I have never seen elections as clean as these. It is a disgrace and a shame."
The mayor said he had witnessed residents arriving at polling stations with walking aids to exercise their right to vote.
"Now that we have exercised our democratic right, we have stolen the elections? If they don't want to let us vote, they should say so," he said.
"What they are doing is ugly. They are portraying us as thieves and cheats. It is simply disgusting."
Rothman demands urgent Shin Bet probe into alleged Ra'am election bribery
Earlier, MK Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionist Party), Chair of the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, appealed to committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) director David Zini, demanding an investigation into allegations of election bribery in Arab communities during Tuesday's Knesset election.
According to the allegations, voters were offered cash payments, fuel cards, and other benefits in exchange for voting for Ra'am, the Arab party led by Mansour Abbas.
Rothman and other signatories demanded that the relevant authorities investigate the allegations and report their findings within 24 hours. Rothman also set up a dedicated email address to receive information and reports on suspected election irregularities.