Following Israel's parliamentary elections held on October 27, the Likud Party led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to appeal to the Central Elections Committee to annul results from several ballot boxes in areas densely populated by Arab citizens of Israel.
Preliminary results show that the Joint List, led by Yusuf Jabarin, and Mansur Abbas's United Arab List (Raam Party) together secured 19 seats, placing them in a pivotal position in the Knesset. The outcome leaves Netanyahu's bloc, which won 53 seats, and the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot with 48 seats, each unable to form a government independently.
Senior Likud officials told the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that they intend to initiate legal proceedings over specific ballot boxes, citing allegations that foreign funds were channeled to the Arab parties to interfere in the elections. Party officials expressed confidence that the materials they plan to submit would be sufficient to order a re-vote in the disputed areas.
Raam Party leader Mansur Abbas flatly rejected the foreign funding allegations, stating that "Raam has absolutely no connection to this matter or to any similar issue whatsoever."
Israel's Central Elections Committee declared that Likud's claims that the elections were "stolen by Arab parties" were entirely unfounded. In an official statement, the committee said: "To the best of our knowledge, there is no basis whatsoever for claims of systematic violations of election security." Israeli police similarly announced that they possess no intelligence data supporting Likud's allegations.
Far-right National Security Minister Ben-Gvir was reported to have asked Shin Bet to detain the leaders of the Joint List and Raam, while Committee Chairman Noam Solberg had reportedly requested Shin Bet Director David Zini to investigate the allegations.
