Israel frees bribery suspects as chief justice shields election results

Israeli police released two of three suspects in a voter bribery case on Sunday, a move that weakens Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s effort to challenge the validity of last week’s parliamentary elections.

The release complicates the Likud party’s narrative that the vote was compromised. Netanyahu’s bloc lost its majority in the 120-seat Knesset, and the prime minister has sought to block potential opposition alliances with Arab-led parties by questioning the integrity of the results.

The timeline of the bribery case began on Oct. 27, when police arrested three political activists with envelopes of cash before polls opened. Two days later, authorities arrested four additional suspects. Police stated the individuals were connected to the Islamist party Ra’am, which has denied involvement. On Sunday, a judge reviewed police requests for further restrictions on the three original suspects. One was released with unspecified conditions, one was ordered to remain on house arrest for eight days, and the detention of the third was extended by two days.

Mansour Abbas, leader of Ra’am, which won eight seats in the new parliament, called the arrests undemocratic. He described the moves as an attempt to influence election results. The Joint List of Arab parties, led by Yousef Jabareen, won 11 seats. Jabareen accused Netanyahu of using racist incitement and delegitimizing the Arab public, a group that makes up 20% of the population.

Netanyahu’s bloc of allies now holds 53 seats, down from 68 in the outgoing parliament. A bloc led by his rival Gadi Eisenkot won 48 seats. Arab-led parties secured the remaining 19 seats. Eisenkot’s group and the Arab-led parties have enough seats to form a government, though they have not yet agreed to do so.

Separate allegations of foreign interference have also clouded the vote. Likud claims Qatar supported opposition parties to unseat Netanyahu. The Shin Bet security service opened an investigation at the request of the election commission. Qatar has denied funding any activities meant to influence the outcome. Many Israelis view the Gulf state as a patron of Hamas, and previous allegations of Qatari influence have caused political turmoil.

Noam Sohlberg, the head of the elections committee, addressed the foreign interference claims in a video released Sunday. He sat with the Shin Bet chief and the attorney general to state the committee’s position. Sohlberg said that even if the suspicions are substantiated, the integrity of the electoral process and the election results as a whole would not be undermined.

Likud quickly pushed back against Sohlberg’s statement. The party questioned how the committee chief could acknowledge serious allegations while asserting they would not affect the final outcome. Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of launching an orchestrated campaign to delegitimize the results. Eisenkot noted that the Shin Bet briefed him on the investigation.

The election results are due to be officially certified this week. President Isaac Herzog will begin meeting with elected parties on Wednesday to determine who they prefer as the next prime minister. He will select the candidate he believes has the best chance of forming a coalition. If negotiations fail, Herzog could ask another candidate to try. If that also fails, Israel will face a new election early next year.

Netanyahu has suggested that joining with Arab parties would be treasonous for Eisenkot. He has cited the bribery arrests and foreign interference claims to cast doubt on the vote. The opposition argues these are scare tactics designed to discriminate against Arab-led parties. The next step is the official certification of the results, which will trigger the formal coalition-building process.