Israel's attorney general sees no evidence 'even close' to changing the election result

Israel's attorney general said on Sunday that she knows of no evidence that comes "even close" to affecting the result of last month's Knesset election. Her remarks came as reports on Sunday and Monday said investigators have so far found no proof of the main foreign-funding and vote-buying claims raised by Shin Bet chief David Zini and by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara spoke at the Justice Ministry's annual conference in Eilat. "I am not aware of any evidentiary basis that comes even close to being able to affect the election results, or to support a claim of influence that could lead to a change in the results," she said, The Jerusalem Post reported. "If additional, new information that has not yet been presented is brought before us, it will be examined and handled in accordance with the law."

The dispute over the probe has shaped the fight over who will form Israel's next government. The 26th Knesset is due to be sworn in on Tuesday, November 10.

What the attorney general said#

Baharav-Miara said decisions on whom to investigate are made on professional grounds. "When there is an evidentiary basis, whoever needs to be investigated will be investigated. This is not a matter of right or left. It is not a matter of Jew or Arab," she said, according to the Post. "So it has been, and so it will be."

She said a large team from the State Attorney's Office and the Justice Ministry had worked with the Central Elections Committee, police intelligence and the Shin Bet to protect the vote. "This was the first AI election. It required considerable thought and adjustments," she said, Ynet reported. She called offenses against election integrity "anti-democratic" and said she and State Attorney Amit Aisman would open investigations whenever there were sufficient grounds.

She praised Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg for handling the matter "professionally, with statesmanship and responsibility." Her remarks echoed Sohlberg's statement last week that the results would stand even if the suspicions were confirmed, as 567politics reported.

In the same speech, Baharav-Miara criticized the outgoing government's legal changes. She said its judicial overhaul "was not intended to improve the system" but to change how law enforcement works. She called a new law restructuring Mahash, the unit that investigates police misconduct, "a poison pill inserted into the law enforcement system," which she said places it under political control. She also joked that when someone becomes attorney general, "they envision a term in the spirit of the television series 'Law & Order.' The state attorney and I got 'Survivor.'"

What investigators have reportedly found#

The newspaper Haaretz reported on Monday, citing two senior law enforcement officials, that the joint Shin Bet and police investigation has found no evidence so far that several hundred thousand shekels were transferred from the Palestinian Authority to Arab-led parties, Al Jazeera reported. According to that account, no transfers from Qatar or any other Arab country were under investigation. Dozens of people have been questioned.

"[It is] certainly not a security matter, and it is highly doubtful that it is even a criminal one," one official was quoted as saying. "All there is is intelligence information without any real substantiation," another said. The officials were not named, and 567politics could not confirm their account independently. Haaretz's report sits behind a paywall; this story relies on Al Jazeera's summary of it and on the Israel.com newsroom's account. Israel.com noted that neither report included a response from Zini or the Shin Bet.

A separate allegation involved fuel cards. Claims spread online that the Ra'am party handed out fuel cards to voters in exchange for their votes. On Sunday evening, the public broadcaster Kan reported that, according to the evidence so far, there is no link between money that allegedly entered Israel from foreign funding and the purchase of the fuel cards. Kan said the fuel company whose cards appeared in the online images told investigators that several parties had bought cards for their activists and that there had been no unusual volume of purchases. Kan said some of the images were old pictures of cards that expired years ago.

Kan also reported that senior figures in both the Shin Bet and the police see Zini's wish to bring the agency's full powers to bear on what is a criminal matter as a "dangerous precedent." It said the issue would go to the attorney general for a decision.

The other side: Shin Bet and Mossad#

The probe has not been closed. The Mossad has completed its own examination of suspected foreign interference and passed its findings to the Shin Bet, the news site Walla reported on Sunday, according to the Post. A special investigative team is due to meet in the coming days to discuss material the Shin Bet gathered through several of its divisions. The Post said the agency "insists that the material is sufficient to open a broad investigation." Police and the Shin Bet are expected to give their assessments to Baharav-Miara in the next few days, Al Jazeera's account of the Haaretz report said.

The Shin Bet itself has publicly stated its position only in limited terms. On October 29, it said the inquiry was based on intelligence it had collected itself, not on information from a political party, The Jerusalem Post reported. It said the investigation was unfinished, "focused and limited," and should not be used to discredit a community that voted democratically and lawfully.

In early November, the agency said its request had been to question people in the circles of Arab lawmakers, not the lawmakers themselves, according to a report carried by The Yeshiva World. Zini told Sohlberg: "I will not move an inch from what the Attorney General instructs me to do. I will not allow the country to be set on fire."

How the dispute began#

Zini, whom Netanyahu appointed to lead the Shin Bet last year, sought permission to question senior figures in Arab parties under caution. He also sought to classify the case as involving national security offenses, which would give the agency wider powers than police have in a criminal case. Baharav-Miara refused to approve questioning the party leaders without sufficient evidence, as 567politics reported on November 3.

The Arab-led parties won 19 seats in the October 27 vote. That gave Jewish parties opposed to Netanyahu enough seats, together with the Arab parties, to replace him. President Isaac Herzog has given opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot the first chance to form a government.

Likud has claimed that Arab parties "stole" the election. The Post said police found those claims were not supported by the information available to them. On November 3, Likud said in a statement that "Baharav-Miara is acting to whitewash and foil the investigation into election contamination," Channel 14 reported. "This is precisely what selective enforcement looks like," the party said. Otzma Yehudit last week accused the attorney general and the Shin Bet's legal adviser of putting "improper pressure" on Zini, without saying where the claim came from, the Post reported.

Arab parties and Qatar deny the claims#

Arab party leaders have denied wrongdoing. Ra'am chairman Mansour Abbas denied any link to an alleged scheme run through Qatar and said Ra'am welcomed Sohlberg's decision to investigate, the Post reported on October 29.

The Joint List condemned what it called "the campaign of political persecution" against its lawmaker Ayman Odeh after reports named him as the MK suspected of receiving cash from the Palestinian Authority. It called this "a serious escalation in the campaign of incitement against the Arab public and its leadership, and an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of its vote." It said Zini, "who was appointed by Netanyahu, is acting as a political arm in his service." Odeh has not been charged with any offense.

Qatar has also rejected the claims. "We reject the accusations made by certain Israeli politicians and their contacts in the media, who have launched yet another disinformation campaign aiming to drag Qatar into Israeli political disputes," Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari wrote on October 29, Al Jazeera reported. Netanyahu had questioned why Ta'al leader Ahmad Tibi visited Qatar a few days before the vote.

What is and is not established#

Several points are now on the record. The attorney general says she has seen no evidence that could change the result. The election committee chairman says the result stands either way. The Shin Bet says its inquiry is unfinished and should not be used against Arab voters. Unnamed officials quoted by Haaretz say no money transfer has been found so far, and Kan says the fuel-card claim has no proven link to foreign money.

Other points remain open. The Mossad's findings have not been made public. The Shin Bet says it holds enough material for a broader probe, but it has not said what that material is. Likud and its allies say the attorney general is blocking the inquiry, and she says every request with an evidentiary basis is being handled. 567politics treats the interference and bribery claims as allegations, in line with our editorial standards.

What comes next#

No court or official body has found that foreign interference took place, and no lawmaker has been charged. The special investigative team's meeting and the police and Shin Bet assessments to the attorney general are the next steps. Any challenge to the results themselves would require a separate court process.

The new Knesset is sworn in on Tuesday as Eisenkot tries to build a majority. Party positions are mapped on our Israel political spectrum, and background on the outgoing prime minister is on our Benjamin Netanyahu profile.

Differing perspectives

How should Israel handle the probe into alleged foreign interference in the October 27 election?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• A campaign of incitement against Arab voters

  Who holds it: The Joint List

  The Joint List condemns what it calls a campaign of political persecution against its MK Ayman Odeh and a serious escalation in incitement against the Arab public and its leaders. It says the aim is to undermine the legitimacy of Arab votes and political participation. It says Shin Bet chief David Zini, appointed by Netanyahu, is acting as his political arm because the fear of losing power is driving accusations.

  In their words: The Yeshiva World ↗

• A focused inquiry that must continue

  Who holds it: The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency)

  The Shin Bet says its inquiry into suspected foreign funding rests on intelligence it gathered itself, not on material from any political party. It says the investigation is unfinished, focused and limited, and that statements about the substance of the suspicions do not reflect its position. It warns that the probe must not be used to discredit a community that voted democratically and lawfully.

  In their words: The Jerusalem Post ↗

• Investigate on evidence, not politics

  Who holds it: Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara

  Baharav-Miara says she knows of no evidence that comes even close to affecting the election result, and that any new information will be handled under the law. She says decisions on whom to investigate are professional: when there is an evidentiary basis, whoever needs to be investigated will be, regardless of right or left, Jew or Arab. She describes election offenses as anti-democratic threats that must be pursued when grounds exist.

  In their words: Ynet ↗

• The attorney general is blocking the probe

  Who holds it: Likud

  Likud says Baharav-Miara is acting to whitewash and foil the investigation into what it calls election contamination, and calls this precisely what selective enforcement looks like. It describes reports that she limited questioning and Shin Bet tools as an earthquake for Israeli democracy. The party demands that she lift all limits so the Shin Bet and police can question lawmakers and their aides.

  In their words: Channel 14 (C14) ↗

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