Is There Foreign Interference in Israel’s Election?

On Thursday 29 October, two days after the vote, the chair of the Central Elections Committee asked the Shin Bet to investigate suspected foreign influence on the election. Within hours Benjamin Netanyahu was calling it an “earthquake” and telling Israel’s Zionist parties to shun the Arab-led lists.

Judge Noam Sohlberg wrote that he could not confirm the substance of the suspicions, and he did not name the foreign actors. Israeli reports linked the suspicion to Qatar. A police source told Hebrew-language media there was no evidence for the wider claim that the election was stolen.

Our earlier report has the count: Netanyahu’s bloc on 53 seats, Gadi Eisenkot‘s on 48, the Arab-led parties on 19, and no one near 61.

• Sohlberg asked the Shin Bet for findings within a week, citing the legal deadlines for challenging the result.
• Smotrich and Ben-Gvir called for interrogations and arrests of Arab party leaders. Eisenkot asked for a thorough inquiry and warned against exploiting it. Ra’am says it has no connection to the affair.

Sohlberg, who chairs the Central Elections Committee, wrote to Shin Bet chief David Zini on Thursday. “The integrity of elections is the heart of democracy,” he wrote. He asked whether foreign entities had tried to influence the vote through improper funding or bribery, and he asked for findings within a week. He acknowledged that he could not independently verify the allegations.

Netanyahu posted on X: “The Ra’amgate affair is an earthquake. They stole the elections in Israel!” He added that “no Zionist party should cooperate with Ra’am and the Joint List.”

Smotrich, the finance minister and chair of Religious Zionism, said: “The heads of the Arab parties must be interrogated by the Shin Bet today.” Ben-Gvir, the national security minister and chair of Otzma Yehudit, called for the arrest of Arab party heads suspected of involvement in what he called Qatari money.

Eisenkot, who leads the opposing bloc, said in reaction to the probe that the Shin Bet must conduct “an impartial, thorough, and immediate investigation” and called foreign involvement “unacceptable and grave beyond measure.” He also said that “it is forbidden to allow political actors to exploit the situation,” and warned against delaying the new Knesset’s inauguration.

Ra’am replied in a written statement on Thursday. “Ra’am welcomes the decision of Central Elections Committee chairman, Judge Noam Solberg, to investigate,” it said. “Ra’am has no connection whatsoever to the affair in question or to other affairs.” Of the allegations themselves, the party said: “There will be nothing, because there is nothing.”

Police gave a separate answer to the broader claim that Likud made on Wednesday, that the election was “stolen by Arab parties.” A police source told Hebrew-language media that election day “passed with very few irregular incidents concerning the integrity of the election,” and that there was no “investigative- or intelligence-based supporting evidence for the claims.”

On Wednesday, Likud said the vote was stolen. On Thursday morning police said they had no evidence. Later on Thursday the committee chair wrote his letter, and Netanyahu cited it in his post. The letter itself says the suspicions are unverified.

Netanyahu asked parties to refuse Arab partners. Smotrich asked for interrogation and Ben-Gvir for arrest. Sohlberg asked only for findings. Eisenkot’s reply separated the two: investigate, but do not use the inquiry for politics.

The arithmetic shows what is at stake. Eisenkot’s 48 seats plus the Arab parties’ 19 would pass 61. Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Liberman have pledged to sit in no government with them, and Joint List chair Yousef Jabareen has said: “We do not see the possibility of being part of an Israeli government coalition.” Netanyahu’s 53 is eight seats short, and no party has been named as ready to supply them.

About 430,000 to 480,000 double-envelope ballots, mostly from soldiers, prisoners and diplomats, were still uncounted on Thursday. Final results are expected on 4 November.

Sohlberg’s week runs to about 5 November. A Shin Bet finding that names a source and a recipient would change this story. A report that finds nothing would leave Netanyahu’s “earthquake” with no evidence behind it.

Final results on 4 November will show whether the double-envelope ballots move any seat. Then President Isaac Herzog begins consultations, and the first question is whether any Zionist party breaks its pledge to stay away from Ra’am and the Joint List.

Two earlier reports give the background: how far the count has moved since the exit polls, and what powers a caretaker Netanyahu keeps in Israel’s 2026 election aftermath.