Likud alleges Israeli election fraud as officials dispute claims
publishers 25articles 29first reported 27 Oct, 07:40 UTCdeveloping since 27 Oct · 6 editions
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party alleged Thursday that Arab-led parties had “stolen” Israel’s election through fraud and possible foreign interference, after final results showed Netanyahu’s bloc losing its parliamentary majority.
Likud accused the Ra’am party and the Joint List of bribery, intimidation, ballot manipulation and improperly funded voter mobilization. The party said it would submit testimony and other evidence to police, the Shin Bet domestic security agency and the Central Elections Committee. The allegations have not been independently verified.
Results released by election officials gave Netanyahu’s bloc 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, the main opposition 48 and Arab-led parties 19. The completed count still requires certification before being submitted to Israel’s president.
Central Elections Committee chairman Noam Sohlberg asked Shin Bet to investigate concerns brought to him about possible foreign funding, while saying he could not verify them. Acting committee director-general Dean Livne said the inquiry would not affect the final results or concern a particular population group. He said the committee had received claims rather than evidence supporting assertions of a stolen election. Israeli police also said they had no evidence backing Likud’s allegations.
Qatar rejected accusations that it financed efforts to increase turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel, calling the claims “ridiculous and dangerous.” Opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot and Arab-led parties accused Likud of attempting to delegitimize the results and Arab voters. Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas denied involvement and pledged cooperation with the investigation.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 4 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 78 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
- 25
- Source articles
- 29
- Given to the writer
- 8, 4 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 8
- This version written
- 78 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and published it as written.
Written by a language model from the sources above, then checked by a second model that may only cut, attribute or correct. How it works →