Election Authorities Reject Likud Request To Extend Voting; Netanyahu Signals ‘Fraud’
ZeroHedge.com
But also, Netanyahu has warned in a new video to his supporters that “they are trying to steal the election from us,” in reference to three Ra’am operatives recently arrested on suspicion of bribing voters. Ra’am is a religious Arab Muslim party.
“It’s serious,” he says. “It’s criminal. They will reach every single person. You have been warned.”
There are several hours remaining before polls close, amid already record-turnout, which is likely a bad sign for Netanyahu and his Likud party.
“By 6 p.m. local time (12 p.m. Eastern), four hours before polls were scheduled to close, 66.7 percent of voters had cast ballots,” NYT observes. “It was the highest figure at that point in the day since Israel’s Central Elections Committee began tracking Election Day turnout in two-hour increments in 1973, and nine percentage points higher than at the same time in 2022.”
Arab-Israelis, which make up about one-fifth of the country’s population, have been turning out in droves – again, a bad sign for Netanyahu. He has posted on X hours ago: “Likudniks, what’s happening to us? This is a war for the home, this is a real emergency.”
Likud is asking for an extended voting hours- Eisenkot’s party opposes bid:
- Turnout at 66.7% as of 6 p.m.
- highest in recorded history for this hour
- Election committee says polling stations will stay open after 10 p.m. if people are waiting in line
- Netanyahu warns once again of Arab voters ‘racing to the ballots,’ drawing racism accusations
- ISRAEL ELECTION OFFICIALS RULE AGAINST EXTENDING VOTING HOURS
Israeli media reports say Netanyahu is already preparing a formal challenge to the results, before polls even close, alleging fraud:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party began preparing to challenge results from polling stations in Arab cities and towns before voting opened Tuesday morning, with Hebrew news sites on Monday quoting Likud operatives as saying that the party has discussed the possibility of claiming the vote was “stolen” if Netanyahu does not win.
According to a Channel 12 news report, Likud was already drawing up a number of complaints and allegations of fraud for voting stations in Arab communities.
Netanyahu’s party was reportedly readying to challenge women who show up to vote fully veiled as well as allegations that some polling stations have segregated voting times for men and women, having reportedly sent several thousand party activists to “monitor” polling sites in Arab-majority areas.
Likud and its allies are also deeply concerned over widespread scenes emerging from Arab-dominant cities in Israel like the following: