# Netanyahu Says Israel's Election Was 'Stolen' in Arab Areas as Two Arab Parties Win a Projected 19 Seats and Could Decide Who Governs

Fox News reports neither Netanyahu's Likud-led bloc nor Gadi Eisenkot's centrist bloc reached 61 seats. Netanyahu cites alleged bribery, threats and forged ballots at polling stations and asks police and the Shin Bet to investigate. No findings are reported.

- Section: [World](https://rightnewsrightnow.com/world/)
- Published: 2026-10-29
- By: RightNewsRightNow Staff
- Canonical page: https://rightnewsrightnow.com/articles/netanyahu-alleges-election-theft-arab-parties-record-gains-kingmakers-israel-fox-news/

Israel's election has ended without a majority for either side, and the prime minister is accusing Arab parties of cheating, Fox News reports from Tel Aviv.

The count. With more than 90 percent of ballots counted, Fox says preliminary results project the Joint List at 12 seats and the United Arab List (Ra'am) at seven, for 19 combined. Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud-led right-wing bloc nor opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot's centrist bloc reaches the 61 needed for a majority. Turnout was near a record, between 75 and 80 percent, and Arab citizens are about 21 percent of Israel's population.

The accusation. On Wednesday Netanyahu wrote on X that the election was "stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state." He said Likud is giving police, the Shin Bet and the Central Elections Committee "hundreds of testimonies and pieces of evidence." The allegations he listed include thousands of envelopes of cash and Ra'am ballot slips, threats and violence against polling station staff, multiple votes behind the curtain, voting under multiple identities, mismatches between ballot envelopes and voters, and use of prohibited voter-mobilization software. He demanded a full investigation and prosecutions.

What analysts say. Dahlia Scheindlin, a senior analyst at Haaretz, said Netanyahu ran on the message that the opposition would need Arab parties' support. She said Zionist opposition parties have sworn not to build a coalition that depends on Arab votes, so any help would force them to break that pledge. Arik Rudnitzky of the Israel Democracy Institute said 85 to 90 percent of Arab voters now back Arab parties, up from about half voting for Jewish parties in the 1980s and 1990s, and that any support would come with a price, such as a plan against crime in Arab communities and new budgets. Scheindlin said Ra'am, which accepts Israel as a Jewish state, is the only one with a chance of an invitation, as in 2021.

The legal fight. The Central Elections Committee voted in September to disqualify both parties. Israel's Supreme Court overturned that on Oct. 2.

Other views. Martin Sherman of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies said the Arab parties should be barred. Former Israeli diplomat Shahar Azani said the turnout answers the claim that Israel is an "apartheid" state, but that the parties must reject extremist positions.

Note for readers: the fraud allegations are Netanyahu's and Likud's, and the Fox report gives no police or Central Elections Committee finding. The seat counts are preliminary projections. Several voices in the piece take a side, and we have listed them as they are attributed.

## Source

Original reporting: [Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/world/netanyahu-alleges-fraud-arab-parties-score-record-gains-emerge-potential-kingmakers)