Israel blames Qatar and Turkey over Arab election turnout as both deny claims

JERUSALEM — Israel's ruling Likud party and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have accused Qatar and Turkey of interfering in the 27 October election, which the opposition and Arab party leaders call an attempt to discredit the result, according to BBC Türkçe.

Likud accused Israel's Arab parties of "stealing" the vote. The Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, is investigating whether those parties received illegal funding from Qatar and Turkey, BBC Türkçe reported. No evidence has been made public.

Denials from Doha and Ankara

Turkey rejected the allegations. The Centre for Combating Disinformation, which is attached to the Turkish presidency, issued a written statement on 29 October. It called the claims "entirely baseless" and part of what it described as a deliberate disinformation campaign meant to manipulate the public.

Qatar's Foreign Ministry described the allegations as "absurd and dangerous". It accused Israeli politicians of running a disinformation campaign against Doha and rejected the claims categorically, BBC Türkçe said.

Israeli media reported that a claim had been submitted to the Central Elections Committee (CEC). It alleged that Qatar had provided funding aimed at raising turnout in Arab communities. The reports did not establish that the claim was accurate, and Qatar denies it.

Election result

Final results confirmed that neither Netanyahu's bloc nor the Jewish opposition won a majority, according to BBC Türkçe. Netanyahu's bloc took 53 seats. The bloc led by his rival Gadi Eisenkot took 48.

The two Arab alliances, Joint List and Ra'am, won a record 19 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. BBC Türkçe said this exceeded expectations and followed a rise in turnout among Arab voters.

On Thursday, Likud claimed voters had been "bribed" to back Arab parties. It made the claim after the CEC asked the Shin Bet to examine what it called "serious suspicions of foreign interference", BBC Türkçe reported. The Arab-majority Joint List said the accusation had no basis.

Netanyahu and Likud described the matter as a "political earthquake" and an "attack on democracy", according to the same report. They said it was aimed at removing their right-wing government from power.

Shin Bet and election officials respond

The Shin Bet later said its inquiry was not aimed at an entire community that voted lawfully, BBC Türkçe reported. Dean Livne, the CEC's acting director general, said claims of systematic violations of election integrity had "no basis".

Eisenkot, who said he had been briefed on the investigation, said it was "too early" to know what had happened, or whether anything had happened at all. He accused Netanyahu of running what he called a coordinated and organised campaign to delegitimise the election result.

Sami Abu Shehadeh, head of the Balad party, which is part of the Joint List, also rejected the allegation.

"The losing side is building a racist smear campaign and calling on the security services to use force to overturn the election results." — Sami Abu Shehadeh, Balad party leader

Critics of Netanyahu see the dispute as an effort to portray the Arab parties as illegitimate, BBC Türkçe reported. They say this could make it politically impossible for Eisenkot to cooperate with those parties.

Claims on social media

In a post on Telegram, Quds News Network said Likud had labelled the matter "Ra'amgate". The channel said the CEC chairman had ordered the Shin Bet to investigate. It also said police had reported no evidence of widespread fraud and that Likud had reportedly been preparing the "stolen" election claim before voting began. These points come from a social media post and are unverified. BBC Türkçe said the CEC asked the Shin Bet to investigate, rather than ordering it.

BBC Türkçe also reported that Netanyahu had been criticising Arab voters and parties for days. On election day he wrote on social media that Arab turnout was an "emergency" and a "life-and-death matter" for the Israeli right. He also shared images generated by artificial intelligence that showed Arab voters at polling stations, which were intended to encourage right-wing voters to turn out.

Background

Arab citizens of Israel often describe themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel. They make up about one-fifth of the population, according to BBC Türkçe.

For many years, many of them boycotted Israeli elections. They argued that voting would legitimise a system in which, in their view, they are treated as second-class citizens.

BBC Türkçe said their turnout on Tuesday reflected a wish to remove the coalition led by Netanyahu, which it described as the most right-wing government in Israel's history.