Right-wing leaders probe Arab vote roles

Israeli right-wing leaders issued sharp statements regarding Arab voters and settlement expansion as election results remained inconclusive.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich addressed members of his Religious Zionism party in Jerusalem on Wednesday. He stated that Jewish settlements would be established in Gaza, a territory where Israel dismantled its settlements in 2005. Smotrich argued that opposition forces would not reverse the government's settlement policies in the West Bank, which international law deems illegal.

Earlier on Tuesday, Smotrich posted on Facebook that voter turnout was unusually high in Arab communities and left-wing areas. He claimed this trend allowed supporters of terror to enter government without offering specific figures to support the claim. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, made similar appeals while voting was ongoing. He warned that an opposition victory would threaten Israel's Jewish character and accused three senior figures from the Arab-majority Ra'am party of attempting to steal the election. Police confirmed the arrest of three individuals on suspicion of voter bribery, though no evidence linked them to senior Ra'am positions.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev of Likud amplified the theft allegations in a post on X. She wrote that the opposition was trying to steal the elections and the country, framing the choice as being between the right or Palestine. British-American political scientist Dov Waxman told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu is likely to argue a coalition including Arab parties would be illegitimate. Arab political leaders described the prime minister's election-day messages as racist and inflammatory.

With roughly 55 percent of ballots counted, projections gave Netanyahu's bloc 56 seats. This falls short of the 61 seats required for a majority in the 120-seat parliament. Mansour Abbas, the leader of Ra'am, stated that both Netanyahu's Likud and the opposition camp led by Gadi Eisenkot had approached him to form a government.