(Oct. 29, 2026 \/ JNS)\n <\/p>\n
Israeli Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg, who chairs the country\u2019s Central Elections Committee, instructed Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) head David Zini on Wednesday to investigate suspected foreign funding and election bribery in Tuesday\u2019s Knesset election, according to a letter published by Channel 12 News on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cSerious suspicions have been brought before me of improper influence, through foreign funding by external actors acting against the Israeli interest, on the elections,\u201d Sohlberg wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot attest to the nature of the aforementioned suspicions,\u201d he continued. Because the suspicions concern foreign actors, there is \u201ca duty to investigate them properly,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Sohlberg instructed the domestic intelligence agency \u201cto locate evidence to substantiate the aforementioned suspicions or to refute them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly in this way can we ensure public trust in the election process,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Citing the legal deadlines for filing election appeals, Sohlberg asked Zini to present any findings within a week.<\/p>\n
The letter does not name the foreign actor, but Channel 12 reported that the suspicions concern Qatar. According to the report, large sums allegedly flowed from Doha to illegally boost voter turnout in the Arab sector.<\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s Likud Party on Wednesday had accused Arab parties of stealing the election through widespread fraud and called for a police and Shin Bet investigation.<\/p>\n
The party alleged that thousands of envelopes containing cash and United Arab List (Ra\u2019am Party) ballots were found at polling stations in Arab communities. It also alleged identity fraud and ballot-count discrepancies.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Thursday morning, the party called what it dubbed the \u201cRa\u2019amgate affair\u201d an \u201cearthquake.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey stole the election in Israel!\u201d Likud said in a statement shared by Netanyahu on X.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an attack on democracy, aimed at bringing about a foreign takeover of the Knesset, the Islamization of Israel and the toppling of right-wing rule, in order to lead to the retreat and defeat of the Israel Defense Forces on all fronts, first and foremost Iran,\u201d it continued.<\/p>\n
The party warned that no Zionist faction should cooperate with Ra\u2019am or the Joint List to replace the Knesset speaker or form a government, and demanded an immediate investigation.<\/p>\n
Yashar Party chairman Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu\u2019s main challenger, said on Thursday that he was receiving updates regarding the suspicions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am in contact with the relevant parties and am receiving updates regarding the suspicions of foreign involvement in the elections,\u201d Eisenkot wrote on X<\/p>\n
\u201cThe State of Israel must zealously guard the integrity of the elections against any attempt at interference, spin and bias,\u201d he tweeted. \u201cEvery complaint must be examined in depth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, political actors must not be allowed to exploit the situation and influence the date of the swearing-in of the 26th Knesset,\u201d Eisenkot added.<\/p>\n
In related news, the Israel Police on Thursday morning detained four men for questioning on suspicion of involvement in election bribery, the force said.<\/p>\n
The suspects were being questioned at the offices of Lahav 433\u2019s National Fraud Investigations Unit, which is handling the case, it added.<\/p>\n
Police previously arrested three suspects on the morning of the Knesset election on suspicion of election bribery, the statement noted.<\/p>\n
In a separate statement, Israel Police Commissioner Daniel Levi pledged to investigate all suspected offenses linked to the vote, warning that no one would be allowed to undermine the democratic process.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery complaint received and every suspicion of an offense relating to election integrity will be thoroughly examined and investigated without bias,\u201d Levi said.<\/p>\n
He added that police would work to uncover the truth and bring those responsible for violations to justice, \u201cwithout exception.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Oct. 29, 2026 \/ JNS) Israeli Supreme Court Deputy President Noam Sohlberg, who chairs the country\u2019s Central Elections…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-660541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}