Netanyahu Alleges Foreign Cash Swayed Israel Vote; Arab Bloc Cries Persecution

Benjamin Netanyahu isn't letting the election go quietly. In a video message delivered in front of an Israeli flag and a sign reading Prime Minister's Office, he claimed there are serious suspicions that foreign states spent considerable sums to influence the outcome of the October 27 vote. He pointed to election-day arrests of people carrying envelopes of cash, which authorities described as localized incidents, and accused Arab party leaders of taking money from Qatar — the same allegation that has previously been aimed at his own aides.

The Arab-Israeli bloc fired back hard. The Joint List, a coalition of three Arab-Israeli parties, said the targeting of Ayman Odeh amounts to political persecution and warned it would not let the Arab public's vote be delegitimised. Odeh, an outgoing lawmaker and former Joint List leader who once headed the left-wing party Hadash, is set to be investigated as part of a foreign interference probe pushed by Netanyahu's Likud, according to several Israeli media reports.

Those reports, citing unnamed officials, say the internal security agency Shin Bet is looking into whether Odeh received hundreds of thousands of shekels — roughly $100,000 — from an unspecified foreign entity. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara denied a Shin Bet request on Tuesday to interrogate other Arab party leaders without evidence, a decision that angered Netanyahu allies who have long clashed with her. The Joint List accused Netanyahu of clinging to power and refusing to accept the will of Arab citizens who voted overwhelmingly against his government.

The numbers undercut the interference talk. The Central Elections Committee said it audited 9,069 polling stations after complaints and found no evidence that would call the results' integrity into question. Israel's President Isaac Herzog has accepted the certified results and urged compromise on forming a government, as the record Arab-Israeli turnout turned the community into a potential kingmaker — one that could hand the top seat to main opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot if they team up.

Netanyahu's opponents see something darker at work. Yair Golan, a left-wing leader in the main opposition alliance, accused the premier's camp of abusing its power, saying police are arresting political activists without court warrants and the Shin Bet is trying to question senior elected officials without presenting evidence. He spoke after the late Tuesday arrest of Abed Abu Shehadeh, an Arab-Israeli journalist related to politician Sami Abu Shehadeh, who rights group Adalah told AFP is being questioned on charges of contact with a foreign agent.

What happens next hinges on whether the investigation into Odeh produces anything — and whether the parties can still stitch together a government. For now, Israel's political deadlock has a new front: accusations of foreign money flying in both directions, with the election committee's clean audit sitting awkwardly in the middle.