Shin Bet finds no evidence of foreign meddling in Israel election: Report

Israel's domestic security agency is investigating claims that hundreds of thousands of shekels were transferred from the Palestinian Authority to Palestinian-Israeli parties, but has found no evidence that the money was used to buy votes, according to Haaretz. The newspaper quotes senior law enforcement officials, saying the Shin Bet has yet to back up its chief's claims of foreign election interference. Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party have used those allegations to challenge the results And oppose the formation of a government involving Palestinian-Israeli parties. Let's speak to Noor Odeh, who joins us from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. So, Noor, lay it out for us. What do we learn from this new Haaretz reporting? Well, what we learn, Cyril, from this new reporting is that all the political storm that was raised by the Israeli prime minister and his party since the day of the election, when people were still casting their ballots, these accusations, these doubts about the outcome of the elections, about foreign interference, about money changing hands and bribing people in order to vote for Palestinian Israeli parties, well so far it has all All amounted to naught. And frankly, this expose by Haaretz also reaffirms accusations against the Israeli caretaker prime minister that he is doing all of that for political reasons. Purposes, he is undermining the electoral process, undermining the integrity of the process, or trying to, in order to derail the elections and to not have to give up his grip on power. Noor, to be very clear here, is there any evidence that has been presented publicly or privately at this point to support the claim of foreign interference in Israel's elections? Well, as far as we can tell, no. There has been no evidence submitted, no evidence shared, nothing to basically lead anywhere. And that's why we heard from the attorney general in Israel that there was nothing to indicate that there was any interference that undermines the integrity of the election. We saw the head of the Central Election Committee, a judge. Say something to the same effect. We heard from the Israeli president who accused Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to malign, to incite against an entire community in order to cast doubt on the outcome of the elections. But all of it has amounted to naught. And the chief of that internal security service, who is a Netanyahu loyalist, has yet to share anything substantive with Israeli law enforcement, with Israeli political. And that is why things proceeded the way they did. The election results were certified. Gadi Eizenkot has been tasked by the president to proceed based on the outcome of the elections to try and put together a government, and a government, as far as we can tell, from Gadi Eisenkot's statements that will not include Benjamin Netanyahu, and that perhaps explains why he's so angry and trying every last bit of tricks, if you will, to derail that process or undermine it. Tricks, it is not the first time I heard this word referring to this whole story. It's something I'm going to put to our guests now. Nour Odeh, thank you very much for your reporting from Ramallah in the Occupied West Bank. Akiva Eldar is a political analyst. You join us from Tel Aviv. Akiva, did any of this surprise you? Not the original allegation, but the reporting now from Haaretz that there is actually no evidence to support the claim of foreign election interference. I'm not surprised. The campaign to delegitimize the election started six months ago, before even we were aware of the fact that this government, outgoing government, will complete its tenure. According to Haaretz, the prime minister and his ministers were very busy in preparing. The public opinion to these allegations that the Arabs are stealing, this is how they define it, stealing the elections and the results of the elections with the Arabs, you know, record of 19 seats in the Knesset. This was part of the second part of the campaign. And now we are in the third stage of delegitimizing the next government. Well, the Arab members of Knesset, the new Knesset will be, for the first time, based on some kind of equality between Arabs and Jews, and they are labeled supporters of terror. The same. The same Mansour Abbas, who Netanyahu was... able, and willing to include in his government, is a terrorist. And what they're actually doing, they are using and scratching the collective wound of the October 7th catastrophe, and they are leaving the Israeli society with racist scratches that will not heal for years. Akiva, what does it say about Israel and its current state that there could be such a consequential claim made at the very top of the political and security apparatus without any evidence? Yeah, unfortunately Netanyahu was able to appoint a very radical right-wing zealot, a member of a kind of radical... Settlers called to the head of the Secret Service, and he did everything he could to confirm this conspiracy theory that the Arabs and some foreign countries were involved. And this is, we are talking about serving Netanyahu, who pledged, and there are even some evidence that he was willing to sell. The national interest for a statement from President Trump that he endorsed Netanyahu before the elections, this is not interference. So it's a very cynical campaign, and the bottom line is tomorrow the 26th Knesset will be sworn in, and I'm afraid that Netanyahu and his gangs will do everything tomorrow to... Stop the process, the democratic process, by bringing into the Knesset to disrupt the process. Akiva, allow me to jump in because this is exactly where I wanted to take you. One word that I keep hearing time and time again with the guests that we bring on. From all political horizons, is the word tricks to describe Netanyahu and how he is going about trying to derail the results of the election and even the formation of the government, which is what you began to address? Do you foresee any other quote unquote tricks? Yeah. And I'm afraid that we are going to see a kind of a copy-paste of January 6th in the United States in the previous elections. Netanyahu doesn't take a defeat for an answer. And he will keep delegitimizing the new government and will do everything to pull out factions such as... There is still a possibility that the ultra-Orthodox will join Eisenkot's government, and of course, to... Use the Secret Service and the police. Cyril, they're not going anywhere. And he will do everything to use them in order to derail the process and the stability of the next government. He was there for 20 years. He's still standing his trial. And for him, it's not just his political life. It's his own freedom. Whether, you know, if he's not the prime minister, he can change his suit to the orange outfit. Well, I get the image that you're putting in our minds, and it does bear repeating that the caretaker prime minister at this point, Benjamin Netanyahu, is on trial for corruption. Thank you very much. It becomes hard. That trial has been delayed countless times during the war in Gaza. It becomes, of course, a lot harder to delay the trial if he is no longer prime minister. We'll see about that. Akiva Eldar, political analyst, thank you very much for joining us. Thank you, sir. Pleasure.