The Minister of National Security of Israel, Itamar Ben Gvir, has urged this Wednesday the director of Shin Bet to order the detention of "all the leaders of Arab parties" to be interrogated in connection with a supposed case of foreign funding in the legislative elections, despite the Central Elections Committee (CEC) having ruled out irregularities after reviewing the claims about the process.
That same Wednesday, the Shin Bet informed the CEC that its investigations point to a possible web of external funding and interference that would reach "thousands of people," although it has stated that it needs to continue with the investigations. This warning has led Ben Gvir to call on the head of internal security services, David Zini, to "act immediately, even without authorization from the Office of the Attorney General" and to proceed to "arrest all the leaders of Arab parties."
"They must be interrogated in Shin Bet cells until these suspicions are completely clarified," the minister said, the leader of the far-right party Otzma Yehudit, who also emphasized that "the certification of the election results and the formation of a Government must be immediately frozen."
Along the same lines, Ben Gvir has reiterated that "the elections have been stolen in Israel." "We must not stay silent. Nothing should be left unaanalyzed to discover the truth," the head of National Security added in a message circulated on social media.
According to Shin Bet, for now the investigations focus on the alleged sending of funds from foreign countries and actors with "hidden and even hostile interests," according to the information published by the newspaper 'The Times of Israel'. However, security sources cited by 'Haaretz' claim they have no confirmation about those references to "large amounts" of money and to "thousands of people" involved.
For its part, the CEC reiterated early in the day that it has detected no sign of "irregularities" that would call into question the cleanliness of the legislative elections held on October 27. After this review, the organization's presidium has ratified the results, which will now be sent to the president, Isaac Herzog, so that he can open the round of consultations and decide to whom to entrust the formation of a Government.
The procedure thus enters its final phase while the Likud of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his coalition allies —among them Otzma Yehudit— try to delay the final validation of the minutes, relying on their allegations of alleged fraud and irregularities in the vote.
The results granted victory to Likud, which would have obtained 27 seats, compared with the 21 achieved by the opposition party of Gadi Eisenkot, Yashar. However, none of the blocs reaches the absolute majority of 61 seats, so the outcome depends on an eventual pact with the Arab parties —which add up to 19 deputies— or on an agreement among right-wing forces that leaves the ultra-Orthodox parties out.