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Fact CheckPoliticsIsrael

Fact check: Was Israel’s election “stolen” through fraud in Arab communities?

Likud says the vote was stolen through bribery, intimidation and forged ballots. Israel Police say there is no evidence to support the claims.

By Rational Times Fact Check · 2 min read
The claimIsrael’s 27 October 2026 election was “stolen” through fraud at Arab polling stations. — LikudNo evidence

The claim

On Wednesday, 28 October, as votes were still being counted, Likud said the election had been “stolen” and called it a “grave assault on Israeli democracy.” The party alleged bribery, intimidation, violence, forgery and the use of prohibited mobilisation software at Arab polling stations, and said thousands of envelopes containing cash had been found alongside Ra’am ballots. It demanded investigations by the police and the Shin Bet and said it would submit “hundreds” of testimonies, according to i24NEWS.

Likud minister Miri Regev wrote on X: “They’re trying to steal the elections and the country from us,” Al Jazeera reported.

What we found

  • The police found no evidence. On Thursday, Israel Police said there had been “a small number of unusual incidents concerning electoral integrity” on election day, but that “there is no investigative or intelligence evidence to support the claims,” The Jerusalem Post reported.
  • No specifics were given. Likud’s statement did not name specific polling stations or numbers of votes, according to i24NEWS.
  • There were arrests — but small in scale. Police arrested three people on suspicion of voter bribery; there was no indication they held senior posts in Ra’am, Al Jazeera reported. Isolated cases of suspected wrongdoing are investigated in most elections and do not by themselves show that an outcome was changed.
  • The count is still being checked. The Central Elections Committee is running integrity checks before publishing official results on 4 November.
  • The rival camp rejects the claim. Gadi Eisenkot denounced the allegations, according to Axios and the BBC, as summarised by Just Security.

Verdict: No evidence

We found no evidence that the election was stolen. The police say the claims are not supported by investigative or intelligence evidence, and the party making them has not published specifics. We will update this check if evidence is presented or the elections committee reports irregularities.

Read the latest: Israel’s near-final count.

How we rate claims: see our fact-check methodology. Spotted a claim we should check? Tell us.

ElectionsFact checkIsraelLikudMisinformation

Sources

  1. The Jerusalem Post — Police: no evidence to support claims (29 October)
  2. i24NEWS — Likud claims election stolen, demands probe into alleged voting fraud (28 October)
  3. Al Jazeera — Israeli right makes provocative statements as votes are counted (28 October)
  4. Just Security — Early Edition, 30 October 2026 (citing Axios and the BBC)
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