Ben Gvir calls for arrests of Arab party leaders and says ‘disloyal’ Israelis should lose voting rights after election interference claims

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called on the Shin Bet to arrest Arab party leaders suspected of involvement in alleged foreign interference in this week’s election and separately argued that people he considers disloyal to Israel should not have the right to vote.

“The Shin Bet should order the arrest, already this morning, of the leaders of the Arab parties suspected of involvement with Qatari money,” Ben Gvir said, adding that any arrests should take place only “to the extent that there is a legal basis.”

He also wrote that “anyone who is not loyal to the State of Israel must not be given the right to vote.”

The remarks followed a request by Central Elections Committee chairman Noam Sohlberg for the Shin Bet to investigate suspicions that foreign funding had been used to influence Arab voter turnout.

Israeli media reported that the suspicions involve possible Qatari and Turkish funding, but no evidence has been publicly presented implicating Arab party leaders.

The Central Elections Committee and police have said there is no evidence of systematic election fraud. The Shin Bet said its inquiry is based on its own intelligence and cautioned against casting suspicion on the entire Arab electorate.

Arab-led parties won a record 19 seats after historically high turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel, leaving them in a potentially decisive position in coalition negotiations after neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor Gadi Eisenkot’s opposition bloc secured a majority.