Israeli election official demands probe into foreign interference claims

The fallout from Israel's inconclusive election has taken another turn as the head of the country's elections panel demands an investigation into allegations of foreign interference in Tuesday's vote.

Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, the head of the Central Elections Committee, has written to the chief of intelligence agency Shin Bet to call for an immediate inquiry and asking for its findings within a week.

"Serious suspicions have been brought before me of improper influence on the elections through foreign funding from foreign entities operating against Israeli interests," Justice Sohlberg said in the letter to Shin Bet director David Zini.

"I cannot attest to the nature of the above suspicions, but it seems to me that, given the fact that these are suspicions concerning foreign entities, there is a duty to investigate them properly."

Justice Sohlberg described the "purity of elections" as being at "the heart of democracy".

Israeli media outlets are reporting that the allegations include a claim that Qatar provided funding to encourage higher voter turnout in predominantly Arab-Israeli communities.

The letter followed allegations from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party that Arab-Israeli politicians had "stolen" the election.

The vote count shows that two Arab-Israeli parties, the Joint List and the United Arab List, are on track to secure 19 seats in the next Knesset.

It is a record level of representation in the parliament for the groups, primarily representing the marginalised Arab and Palestinian citizens who make up 20 per cent of the nation's population.

The result would give the two parties significant influence on who might be able to form a coalition government, particularly as there is no clear path for the other anti-Netanyahu parties, including lead challenger Gadi Eisenkot, to form government without them.

The Likud allegations went to far as to say envelopes had been stuffed with cash alongside ballot papers for the United Arab List in some communities. There were also claims of identity fraud.

Arab-Israeli parties complained of intimidation at polling stations, accusing right wing activists of trying to stop people from voting.

Before the letter from Justice Sohlberg on Thursday, numerous Israeli media outlets had cited police sources in claiming the allegations from Likud were baseless.

"The Israel Police has declared that it will safeguard the integrity of the elections with the utmost vigilance — and that is exactly what it will do," Police Commissioner Daniel Levy said in an official statement.

"Every complaint received, and any suspicion of an offense related to the integrity of the elections, will be examined and investigated thoroughly and impartially.

"Regarding any suspicion of an offense, the Police will act with determination to uncover the truth and ensure that those involved are held fully accountable, without exception."

'Attack on democracy'

Likud described the allegations in the letter as an "unprecedented shock".

"This is an attack on democracy whose purpose is to lead to a foreign takeover of the Knesset, the Islamisation of Israel, and the overthrow of right-wing rule in order to lead to retreat and defeat of the IDF in all arenas — and primarily Iran," it said in a statement.

It challenged the "change"-camp parties not to cooperate with the Arab-Israeli politicians in any attempt to try to replace the Likud speaker of the Knesset and take control of the parliament before a new government was formed.

One of the Joint List's officials, Sami Abu Shehadeh said it was part of a conspiracy to "reject the results" of the election.

"In any properly functioning society, those who lose an election take responsibility and go home," he said in a statement.

"In Israel, the losing side concocts a racist 'blood libel' and calls upon the security establishment to use force to overturn the election results."

Mr Abu Shehadeh had withdrew his candidacy for the election after an attempt to disqualify him from running.

Democrats leader Yair Golan said it was rich for Mr Netanyahu and Likud to make allegations about Qatari money when a senior aide accused of taking funds from Doha had not been sacked.

"Until then, Netanyahu can keep barking. We will keep working. The public fired him. We will make sure he vacates his seat," Mr Golan posted on X.

"Netanyahu has suffered a crushing democratic defeat. The public has fired him, and he refuses to accept the voters' verdict."

Mr Golan has been publicly advocating for the 'change' camp to consider working with the Arab-Israeli parties.

Anti-Arab slogans the centrepiece of Netanyahu's campaign

For much of the election campaign, Mr Netanyahu leant on anti-Arab slogans as he implored voters to back his party or risk Palestinian influence on the next government.

On polling day he posted photos he claimed showed large crowds in Arab-majority communities lining up to vote as he encouraged his supporter base to show up to cast their ballots. Voting in Israel is not compulsory.

At least one of those images has been labelled as AI-generated, after analysis from the BBC.

Mr Netanyahu's political partners, including far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, seized upon the letter from the Central Elections Committee.

"The suspicion of election interference with foreign Islamist money is a litmus test for the State of Israel," he said.

"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."

Mr Smotrich's Religious Zionism party lost support at the election and is on track to hold only six seats in the next Knesset.

He has been sanctioned by many countries, including Australia, for his policies and rhetoric against Palestinians.

He had been promising to "Judaise" parts of Israel that have Arab-majority populations, effectively suggesting that more Jewish Israelis should move to those areas to diminish the influence of locals.