MK Rothman disputes election chief’s claim that Israel’s Oct. 27 vote was properly conducted

Religious Zionist Party lawmaker Simcha Rothman told JNS on Monday that he believed there had been “large-scale bribery” in Israel’s Oct. 27 election, challenging Central Elections Committee Chairman and Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg’s statement on Sunday that the vote was conducted properly.

“I can say with a very high degree of certainty that there was large-scale bribery. I have enough evidence to say so,” Rothman said.

“How can anyone say at this stage, while this kind of investigation is ongoing, that it did not influence the election outcome?” he asked.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party also challenged Sohlberg’s assessment on Monday, demanding a swift investigation into suspected foreign interference and saying a “black cloud” hung over the election results.

“It is very puzzling how Justice Sohlberg says these are very serious suspicions of foreign funding, and at the same time determines in advance that they have no effect on the election results before the investigation is concluded,” the party said in a statement posted to Netanyahu’s X account.

Likud said only 4,612 votes kept a Knesset seat from passing from the Ra’am party to Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc, a shift it said “would have completely changed the election results and the political map.”

Speaking alongside Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief David Zini, Sohlberg said on Sunday, “The elections to the 26th Knesset were conducted properly. Any irregularities are currently being examined. The election results reflect the will of the voters.”

“Serious suspicions” involving foreign funding intended to influence the election were under investigation, said Sohlberg, but he stressed that even if substantiated, they would not undermine the integrity of the electoral process or the results as a whole.

He said the investigation remained covert and relied on classified intelligence, with details that could not be disclosed at this stage.

“The claim that the evidence currently before us could undermine the election results as a whole is incorrect,” he said.

A joint team led by the Shin Bet, the Israel Police and the State Attorney’s Office will be established to investigate the suspicions, Sohlberg said. He will closely monitor the inquiry while the electoral process proceeds as scheduled.

Sohlberg stressed that his remarks did not call into question votes cast by Arab citizens, saying high turnout was welcome in every community in Israel.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog similarly urged a full investigation on Thursday while cautioning against tarnishing Arab voters as a community.

In a post on X on Sunday evening, Netanyahu said Zini had complained to Sohlberg that the Shin Bet’s legal adviser was “tying my hands” and preventing him from investigating.

Otzma Yehudit, in a statement posted on X by party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir, criticized Sohlberg for declaring that the results would not change while the investigation was ongoing. The party said that only a few thousand votes separated Ra’am from losing a seat to the right-wing bloc.

The party also alleged that the Shin Bet’s legal adviser and the attorney general were exerting improper pressure on Zini and preventing him from completing the investigation, calling it a “cover-up by a politicized legal echelon.”

“We demand a full investigation, without a cover-up, without leniency and without predetermined conclusions,” according to the statement.

Rothman said that a shift of just 6,000 votes received by Arab parties would be enough to transfer one Knesset seat to Shas, part of Netanyahu’s bloc. He said he was examining the allegations himself and forwarding his findings to the Shin Bet and the Central Elections Committee.

He also criticized Baharav-Miara’s appearance alongside Sohlberg, arguing that her position could be affected by the election results and questioning her neutrality.

The official results will be published and submitted to Herzog on Wednesday as scheduled, Sohlberg added.