Did Arab parties and foreign governments collude to inflate Arab votes?

Israeli elections have never been cut and dry, and part of the reason is due to the complex parliamentary system, whereby majority votes for one individual party, headed by a candidate, means nothing if he is unable to put together a coalition, representing at least 61 mandates (Knesset seats).

But the election of this past week, the first since the October 7 massacre, was particularly volatile, emphasizing the polarization of two very distinct sides which has taken place over the last three years.

While there were many, vying for that coveted spot, the race centered around two likely winners – the present, and long-time Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and former IDF General, Gadi Eisenkot. Bibi represented the status quo, whereas Eisenkot was the change candidate, promising a vast departure from the way things have been over the last 20 years.

The fact that Netanyahu garnered a higher number is meaningless if he cannot build that coalition. What prevents him from doing so are the many religious groups who refuse to accept centrists and Arabs into their ranks.

The same is true for Eisenkot’s camp, who will not sit with the ultra-Orthodox. Even a unity government, which sounds, ideal might not happen, because neither Eisenkot nor Bibi are keen on sharing the power, given their vast differences on many issues.

So where does that leave us? Still not knowing who will run the country!

But that’s not the only fly in the ointment. Now, there are allegations of improprieties having occurred, with accusations (albeit, not yet proven) that Qatari and Turkish money helped to interfere in the election, greatly inflating votes for the Arab parties.

Nothing like that has ever happened before, and when you take into consideration that Arabs compose a small minority, in comparison to Jews, the 19 mandates, achieved by the Arab bloc, was the biggest surprise of the election. This means that they were just slightly behind the two front runners.

In the past, they’ve never come close to so many votes, so this massive leap, of nearly double what they usually get, definitely seems far-fetched. And that is why Netanyahu’s Likud party, which achieved the highest number of mandates is claiming that election fraud may have taken place. Their allegations allege scandalous irregularities, including “thousands of envelopes containing cash and Ra’am (the Arab party) ballots, threats and violence against polling officials, multiple voters entering booths together, voting under duplicate identities, discrepancies between ballot-envelope and voter totals and prohibited voter-mobilization software.”

Perhaps, that is why the Central Elections Committee Chairman Judge Noam Sohlberg has instructed Israel’s security forces, Shin Bet, to look into claims that Qatar, Turkey and other foreign players may have been behind the reason that there is an inordinately high Arab vote, giving them a powerful voice, the likes of which they have never had.

The problem with this is that a great many of those Arab voices are pro Hamas and against a Jewish state, unlike Israeli activist Yosef Haddad, an Arab Christian and one of the greatest advocates for Israel, whose party, “Amcha Israel” (the people of Israel) failed to obtain the minimum threshold of 3.25% votes.

So, what really happened? Is this part of a well-coordinated global attempt by radical Islamists to suddenly seize power? As so many anti-Israel Muslims are running for office in the U.S., a fairly new phenomenon, many European cities are already controlled by Arab Muslims who also are hostile to Israel and the Jews.

And while all of these suspicions are disturbing, nothing could be more shocking than the same efforts being made to take over control in the Jewish homeland, an anomaly that has seemingly come out of nowhere.

While a number of candidates may have been agreeable to welcome Mansour Abbas, head of the Arab Ra’am party, given that he already was part of the Bennett Coalition of 2021, and said to have been cooperative and supportive, they will likely be less amenable to enter into such partnership with him as a result of these troubling accusations.

If outside foreign interference has, indeed, taken place, ironically, it could set back the Arab population, relegating them to a place of suspicion and distrust. Of course, as a minority population in the Jewish state, they had a very good chance of receiving greater consideration and cooperation if a centrist government would have prevailed and won the election.

One of the aspirations of such a government is to repair relations with patriotic Arab Israeli citizens, who have sought to blend into the Israeli culture and value the democracy under which they live.

Consequently, a suspicious person might come to believe that efforts might have been made to undermine a stronger cooperation between Israeli Jews and Arabs, endeavoring to be more unified.

Who would be the likely suspects to want to torpedo such potential cohesiveness? Those that come to mind would be Qatar, Turkey and Iran, all of whom share a common goal – the total destruction of the only Jewish state in the Middle East.

It is the “From the river to the sea” crowd who would do everything within their power to kill any kind of improved relationship between these two people, who share citizenship in a Jewish country. But, those kinds of thoughts would only be held by someone who harbors suspicions, right?

Nothing is surprising anymore, especially when it comes to the bold and audacious attempts by radical Muslims who no longer hide their real intent to become the dominant force worldwide.

But this may have been a bridge too far, because there is no precedent, throughout the 78-year existence of Israel, where Arab parties have ever come close to attaining nearly the same number of votes as the major Jewish parties.

In the end, President Trump’s greatest wish, for a unity government, may be realized, because if the top two Israeli candidates come to the conclusion that neither of them want to include the Arab parties, even those more favorable to Israel, in their coalition, the only option will be for both men to join forces and create a government that strives to represent all Israelis.

If the allegations prove to be true, those foreign interferences could have actually done us a favor by forcing us to get along so that we can have the best possible government for all Israelis!