Qatar and Turkey deny meddling in Israel’s election as Shin Bet inquiry widens

Israel’s closest election in years has turned into a row about foreign interference. Qatar said on Thursday, 29 October, that claims it funded Arab parties were “ridiculous and dangerous”. Turkey followed on Friday, 30 October, calling the claims against it “entirely baseless”. The denials came as Israel published the final results of the vote held on Tuesday, 27 October, and as the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, said its inquiry was still open.

Nothing has been proved. No public evidence has been produced showing that Qatar, Turkey or any other foreign government paid for votes. The head of the elections committee, Supreme Court Deputy Chief Justice Noam Sohlberg, has said openly that he cannot verify the suspicions himself. He asked the Shin Bet to look for evidence that would either support them or disprove them.

Yet the claims have already had a political effect. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the affair an “earthquake”. His Likud party has filed more than a thousand complaints about polling stations in Arab communities, though police have rejected the claim of widespread fraud. And the two Arab-led parties, which won a record 19 seats, now sit at the centre of coalition talks in a parliament where no side has a majority.

At a glance

What happened: Qatar and Turkey denied claims that they interfered in Israel’s election on 27 October 2026, after Israel’s elections chief asked the Shin Bet to investigate suspicions of foreign funding. Final results, published on 30 October, gave Netanyahu’s bloc 53 seats, the opposition 48, and Arab-led parties a record 19.

Why it matters: No bloc has the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, so the Arab parties’ 19 seats could decide who forms the next government.

What happens next: The Shin Bet has been asked to report its findings within a week. The certified results go to President Isaac Herzog on 4 November, and the new Knesset is due to be sworn in on 10 November.

The denials: “ridiculous and dangerous”

Qatar’s denial came first, on Thursday, 29 October, from Majed al-Ansari, the spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry. He posted a statement on X, the social media platform. “We categorically deny allegations that Qatar has interfered in Israeli elections or funded any activities intended to influence their outcome,” he said. He described the claims as part of “yet another disinformation campaign aiming to drag Qatar into Israeli political disputes following this week’s elections”.

Al-Ansari mocked the range of accusations aimed at Doha. “They accuse Qatar of buying off Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli political left and now, in this latest campaign, the Arab vote,” he said. “If these claims were to be believed, Qatar would apparently own all of Israel.” He called the accusations “ridiculous and dangerous in equal measure” and said Qatar should “not be used as a scapegoat for the political failures of certain Israeli politicians”.

Turkey’s denial came a day later, on Friday, 30 October. Ankara rejected the allegations that it had interfered in the vote, calling them “entirely baseless”. The statement came from the Communications Directorate’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, which posted on NSosyal, a Turkish social media platform. “These allegations are part of a deliberate and blatant disinformation campaign aimed at manipulating public opinion,” the centre said.

The Turkish denial followed reports that the investigation had widened. According to the Times of Israel, citing the Ynet news site, the probe now includes the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, alongside the Shin Bet. Neither the Shin Bet nor the elections committee has publicly confirmed which countries, if any, the investigation is focused on.

How the investigation began

The inquiry began with a letter from Justice Sohlberg to Shin Bet director David Zini, reported publicly on Thursday, 29 October. Sohlberg, who chairs the Central Elections Committee, asked the agency to determine whether foreign entities had tried to influence the election through improper funding or bribery, and to report any findings within a week.

Sohlberg was careful about what he was, and was not, saying. He wrote that the integrity of elections was “the heart of democracy”. But he also acknowledged that he could not independently verify the allegations. His letter asked the Shin Bet to use its investigative powers to uncover evidence that could either substantiate the suspicions or disprove them. In other words, the letter ordered an investigation, not a verdict.

Israeli media have reported unconfirmed claims about where the suspected money may have come from, which the Shin Bet has not confirmed and has warned the public not to treat as its own position.

The Shin Bet moved quickly to explain itself on Thursday evening. It said its investigation was “limited in scope” and stressed that the intelligence behind it came from its own collection work on foreign influence, not from any political party. “The information in question originated from collection carried out by the Shin Bet pursuant to its statutory mission regarding the identification of foreign influence, and did not come from a party or political entity on either side of the political map,” the agency said.

The agency also made a point of protecting ordinary voters. It said the investigation “does not cast aspersions on or accuse an entire sector that went out to vote democratically and legally”. It cautioned that the inquiry was incomplete. Once it ends, it will present its findings to Sohlberg, who is the authorised decision-maker. Zini personally briefed Netanyahu, Eisenkot and Lapid, with Sohlberg’s approval.

What the final results actually say

The Central Elections Committee published the final count in the early hours of Friday, 30 October, after ballots from soldiers, prisoners and diplomats abroad had been counted. Turnout was 77.9 percent of eligible voters, with 5,716,665 votes cast, the highest in decades.

The result is a hung parliament. Netanyahu’s bloc won 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, eight short of the 61 needed for a majority. His Likud party remains the largest single party, with 27 seats, followed by Otzma Yehudit with seven, United Torah Judaism with seven, Shas with six and Religious Zionism with six. The bloc is down from the 68 seats it held in the outgoing parliament.

The main opposition bloc, led by former army general Gadi Eisenkot, won 48 seats. His Yashar party took 21 seats. The B’Yachad alliance of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid won 12, Yair Golan’s Democrats took eight, and Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beytenu won seven.

The Arab-led parties won a record 19 seats, up from 10 at the last election. The Joint List won 11 seats and Ra’am won eight. Neither of the two big blocs can reach 61 without them, which makes the Arab parties the kingmakers of this election, whether the other parties like it or not.

The elections committee will present the official results to President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday, 4 November, and the new Knesset is due to be sworn in on Tuesday, 10 November. Herzog, speaking on 28 October, said: “We must do everything we can, certainly after yesterday, to avoid another round of elections.”

The Joint List says it is ready to help remove the current government, while Ra’am is open to joining an Eisenkot-led government.

Two separate disputes, and why they must not be mixed up

There are two different arguments running at the same time. The first is the Shin Bet investigation into suspected foreign funding. The second is Likud’s claim of widespread fraud at polling stations in Arab communities. The elections committee has not linked the two, and the police have rejected the fraud claim.

Likud says it submitted 1,183 complaints to the elections committee, alleging bribery, threats, violence, double voting and the use of prohibited voter-mobilisation software. Police have disputed the broader allegations, saying election-integrity incidents fell by nearly 40 percent compared with the previous election and that they have found no evidence of widespread fraud.

Three men were arrested in southern Israel on the eve of the election on suspicion of trying to bribe voters to support Ra’am. Police said searches of their homes uncovered envelopes containing tens of thousands of shekels and ballot slips. The suspects denied wrongdoing. A court released one of them, a doctor, despite police objections, while the detention of the other two was extended by five days. Police have since said they have not uncovered significant evidence of wrongdoing and expect the case to be closed.

Ra’am calls the arrests politically motivated, and police have not alleged that its leadership was involved. The case concerns three individuals and does not support Likud’s broader claims of coordinated fraud.

Netanyahu described the controversy as an “earthquake”, alleged that foreign entities had interfered in favour of Arab parties, and called on Zionist parties to reject cooperation with Ra’am and the Joint List. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister of national security, called for the arrest of the Arab party bosses and alleged the involvement of money from Qatar. The elections committee’s own acting director, Dean Livine, has rejected the allegations: “The Knesset elections were conducted lawfully. The integrity of the elections at polling stations was rigorously safeguarded,” he wrote.

Why Arab voters are at the centre of it

The reason this row matters is simple arithmetic. Arab citizens of Israel make up about a fifth of the population, and in this election they voted in large numbers. The two Arab-led parties nearly doubled their seats, from 10 to 19. Without them, nobody can form a government.

This is not the first time Arab political participation has been questioned in Israel. When Arab turnout is low, Arab parties are called irrelevant. When it is high, their success is treated as suspicious. The Shin Bet warned against this, saying its investigation did not accuse an entire community that had voted lawfully.

The political stakes explain why the claims have travelled so fast. Netanyahu and his allies have repeatedly rejected any arrangement that relies on Arab parties, presenting it as a threat to national security and political stability.

If the Shin Bet finds evidence of foreign funding, it would rightly raise questions about the result. If it finds nothing, the claims will still have cast doubt on 19 fairly won seats, in an election the police say was cleaner than the last one. Either way, the voters who turned out in record numbers are the ones caught in the middle.

Qatar’s other role: mediator in the region’s wars

There is another reason Qatar’s name carries such weight in this story. Doha is not just a wealthy Gulf state. It is a key mediator in the region’s conflicts, and its relationships with all sides make it a target for suspicion from all sides too.

Qatar played a central role in the talks that halted Israel’s war on Gaza, and it is now leading mediation efforts between Washington and Tehran. That role puts Qatari officials in regular contact with parties Israel’s government regards as enemies, and has long made Doha a focus of criticism in Israeli politics.

Al-Ansari, the Qatari spokesman, made the same point in his denial. He said the latest accusations would not distract Doha from its “important role as a mediator, our diplomatic and humanitarian efforts, our support for the Palestinian people, or our commitment to a just and comprehensive peace and regional stability”.

What happens next

The next week will decide whether this story grows or fades. The Shin Bet has been asked to report any findings within a week, and its sources have said the investigation will not delay the presentation of certified results to President Herzog on 4 November. If the agency finds evidence, Sohlberg, as the authorised decision-maker, will have to decide what follows. If it finds nothing, the results will stand.

An election that was supposed to settle Israel’s political future has instead produced a hung parliament and a fight over whether the result itself can be trusted. The denials from Doha and Ankara are on the record. The investigation is under way. What is missing, so far, is evidence.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly are Qatar and Turkey accused of?

They are accused by some Israeli politicians and media outlets of funding get-out-the-vote drives among Arab voters in Israel’s election on 27 October 2026. No public evidence has been produced to support the claims, and both governments have denied them. The Shin Bet is investigating suspicions of foreign funding, but it has not named any country.

Who ordered the investigation, and what did they actually ask for?

Justice Noam Sohlberg, the Supreme Court judge who chairs Israel’s Central Elections Committee, wrote to Shin Bet director David Zini and asked the agency to investigate suspected foreign funding and bribery. He said he could not verify the suspicions himself and asked the Shin Bet to find evidence that would either support them or disprove them. He asked for findings within a week.

What did the final election results show?

Netanyahu’s bloc won 53 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot won 48, and the Arab-led parties won a record 19: 11 for the Joint List and eight for Ra’am. A majority needs 61 seats. Turnout was 77.9 percent, with 5,716,665 votes cast.

Has any evidence of foreign interference been made public?

No. The Shin Bet has said its investigation is still incomplete. Police have said there is no investigative or intelligence evidence of widespread fraud. Three men were arrested on suspicion of bribing voters, but police have said they have not uncovered significant evidence of wrongdoing in that case and expect it to be closed.

What happens next in Israel?

The Central Elections Committee will present the certified results to President Isaac Herzog on 4 November, and the new Knesset is due to be sworn in on 10 November. The president will then ask a party leader to try to form a government. The Shin Bet’s findings, due within a week of the request, will show whether the suspicions have any substance.

Conclusion

Israel’s election gave no side a majority and gave the Arab parties more power than they have ever held. The claims of foreign interference have made coalition talks harder, because they question the legitimacy of the very votes that produced the result. Qatar and Turkey have denied the claims in the strongest terms, and the police have rejected the parallel claim of widespread fraud. The Shin Bet is investigating, and its findings will matter. But until evidence is produced, the honest description of this story is the one the elections chief himself gave: suspicions, unproved, that need to be tested.

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.

Sources

• https://barbadosgazette.com/israels-anti-qatar-campaign-bleeds-into-elections/ (Al Jazeera report republished by Barbados Gazette, 29 October 2026)
• https://www.europesays.com/turkiye/67104/ (ANI, 30 October 2026)
• https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/ikurnlsgd (Calcalist, 29 October 2026)
• https://themedialine.org/headlines/shin-bet-briefs-party-leaders-on-foreign-interference-probe/ (The Media Line, 29 October 2026)
• https://www.swisherpost.com/international/israel-election-results-netanyahu-bloc-short-majority/ (Swisher Post, 30 October 2026)
• https://theinternationallens.com/2026/10/29/foreign-money-israeli-ballots-shin-bet-probes-qatar-and-turkey/ (The International Lens, 29 October 2026)
• https://israelrealtime.com/2026/10/29/sohlberg-orders-election-probe-joint-list-offers-cooperation-on-alternative-government/ (Israel Realtime, 29 October 2026)