PM demands probe after vote-buying scheme for Arab party uncovered on election day

Three suspects arrested in alleged vote-buying scheme for the Islamist United Arab List, prompting Prime Minister Netanyahu to demand investigation during high-stakes election.

By World Israel News Staff

Israeli police arrested three suspects in the Negev on Tuesday morning on suspicion of attempting to buy votes for the Islamist United Arab List (Ra’am) party, after discovering envelopes containing cash alongside the party’s election ballots, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to demand an investigation.

The arrests took place as millions of Israelis headed to polling stations to vote in the country’s 26th Knesset elections, the first general election since the Hamas invasion of October 7, 2023.

According to a report by Channel 13, officers from the Southern District’s fraud investigation unit raided a building in a Bedouin community in the Negev following intelligence suggesting that cash-filled envelopes were intended for distribution to voters.

Police discovered envelopes containing thousands of shekels alongside ballot papers bearing the name of the UAL (Ra’am), which is headed by MK Mansour Abbas.

Additional reporting by Israel Hayom identified the suspects as residents of the Segev Shalom and Ar’ara areas of the Negev. The searches reportedly uncovered tens of thousands of shekels in cash, envelopes and other evidence.

The three suspects were taken for questioning, with police expected to request extensions of their detention in court later Tuesday.

The operation followed preparations by Israel Police Commissioner Danny Levy, who ordered the establishment of intelligence teams specifically tasked with identifying and preventing attempts to disrupt the election.

The police investigation centers on suspicions that the money was intended to be distributed to citizens in exchange for voting for the UAL.

Netanyahu responded shortly after the arrests were reported, describing the incident as a serious threat to the integrity of the electoral process.

“A serious affair on Election Day: Three suspects were arrested with envelopes of money and Mansour Abbas’s voting ballots,” Netanyahu wrote on social media.

“The police raided a building in the Negev and seized envelopes containing thousands of shekels alongside voting ballots,” he added.

“I demand that law enforcement investigate the incident,” the prime minister declared.

Netanyahu also urged his supporters to head to polling stations, warning against alleged efforts to undermine the integrity of the election.

“Likud voters, my dear Likud voters,” he wrote, calling on them to turn out and support his party.

The UAL rejected the implications of the arrests and accused political opponents of attempting to suppress its electoral support.

The party confirmed that those arrested were its activists but claimed that the detentions were unjustified.

“Apparently someone has singled out the UAL as a target,” the party said, announcing that it had filed a complaint with the Central Elections Committee over what it described as a “systematic campaign” to interfere with voting for the party.

The arrests come amid an election in which Arab voter turnout could play a significant role in determining the distribution of Knesset seats and the ability of either political bloc to form a government.

The UAL’s participation in the election was itself the subject of legal proceedings earlier this month, after the Central Elections Committee voted to disqualify the party and other Arab political candidates. The Supreme Court subsequently overturned the disqualifications, allowing them to compete in Tuesday’s vote.