Netanyahu and Eisenkot call for an investigation into possible foreign interference in Israeli elections

Netanyahu's Likud party and opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar! party on Thursday called for an investigation into possible foreign interference in Tuesday's Israeli parliamentary elections.

The chairman of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), Noam Sohlberg, sent a letter to the head of the Israeli internal intelligence service, Shin Bet, David Zini, requesting an investigation into the allegations received.

Although Sohlberg admits that he cannot confirm the basis of his suspicions, he believes that they should be thoroughly investigated because they may involve foreign actors.

"Since foreign institutions are involved, they must be thoroughly investigated," he says in the letter.

Suspicions suggest that Qatar could fund it.

Accordingto the Israeli newspaper Haaretz , the allegations include Qatar's funding of initiatives to increase electoral participation in Arab communities in Israel.

Likud, who has dubbed the case "Raamgate," referring to the Arab Raam party, has described the suspicions as "unprecedented distress." Netanyahu's party claims that foreign organizations interfered in the election and gave voters money to vote for the Arab parties.

Likud has described what happened as an attack on democracy in Israel and has therefore called for no government agreement with Raam or the United Strip, another Arab party in Israel.

Smotrich calls for Arab leaders to be investigated and Ben Gvir calls for arrests

After hearing the Central Election Commission's request, the leader of Religious Zionism, Bezalel Smotrich, has called on the X social network for Shin Bet to investigate Arab party leaders "today."

On the other hand, the leader of the Jewish power and former Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, has called for the arrest of leaders of suspected Arab parties, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood and its branches, if there is any legal basis for doing so.

Eisenkot, for his part, has argued that Israel must protect the integrity of the elections and investigate all allegations, but has insisted that the process should not change the expected date for the inauguration of the new Knéset, the Israeli parliament.