Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has alleged widespread fraud and criminal activity during Israel's recent election, specifically targeting voting in Arab areas. These allegations come as Israel's two main Arab parties achieved record gains, positioning them to potentially influence the formation of the next government.
Preliminary results indicated that the two Arab parties were projected to win a combined 19 seats in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. However, neither Prime Minister Netanyahu's Likud-led right-wing bloc nor the opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot’s centrist bloc secured the 61 seats necessary for a majority. This outcome places the Arab parties in a kingmaker position.
Netanyahu took to X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday to assert that the election had been “stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state.” He detailed accusations including bribery, threats, violence, forgery, and the use of prohibited software to mobilize voters. His Likud party announced it was providing hundreds of testimonies and pieces of evidence to the police, the Shin Bet (Israel's internal security agency), and the Central Elections Committee regarding these alleged offenses.
However, Dean Livne, Acting Director-General of the Central Elections Committee, informed Yesh Atid lawmaker Vladimir Beliak that, to the best of his knowledge, there is no basis for allegations of systematic violations of election integrity. Livne acknowledged that the request for an investigation concerned classified information whose veracity had not yet been determined.
The Joint List alliance, comprising the left-wing Hadash party and the Arab nationalist parties Ta’al and Balad, was projected to win 12 seats. The United Arab List (Ra’am), led by Mansour Abbas and affiliated with the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, was projected to secure seven seats.
Arab citizens constitute approximately 21% of Israel's population, and voter turnout in this election was reported to be between 75% and 80%, near a record high. Analysts note that Arab parties have become a significant political force, with voting patterns shifting over recent decades. Historically, Arab voters supported both Jewish and Arab parties, but by the 1990s, approximately half voted for Jewish parties. Today, it is estimated that between 85% and 90% of Arab voters support Arab parties, contributing to their increased political strength.
Prime Minister Netanyahu's campaign strategy centered on the message that the opposition would rely on Arab parties, which he argued could lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state that would become a terror state. This narrative has made cooperation with Arab parties a sensitive political issue for the larger Zionist parties, with many pledging not to form a coalition dependent on their support.
Historically, Arab parties have primarily served in opposition, though they have provided parliamentary support from outside governing coalitions, as seen in the 1990s governments of Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. This allowed governments to maintain office even when facing internal opposition.
Experts suggest that any support Arab parties might offer to a future coalition would come with demands for political concessions. These could include government action to combat crime in Arab communities and socioeconomic development plans for the Arab sector, involving significant budget allocations. "There is no free lunch in politics. Every collaboration... has its political price," noted one researcher.
The United Arab List, led by Mansour Abbas, has adopted a different approach, accepting Israel as a Jewish state and aiming to improve the lives of Arab citizens within that framework. This party has been invited into governing coalitions before, notably in 2021, with the expectation of achieving equality for citizens and working within the existing system.
In September, the Central Elections Committee had voted to disqualify both the Joint List and the United Arab List from the elections, citing provisions in Israeli law that bar candidates who deny Israel's existence as a Jewish and democratic state or support terrorism. However, Israel's Supreme Court overturned these decisions on October 2, allowing both parties to participate.