Israeli right makes provocative statements as election votes are counted

Senior figures on Israel’s right have made a series of provocative statements about Arab voters, alleged attempts to steal the election and plans to establish Jewish settlements in Gaza.

The remarks came during Tuesday’s election and after exit polls suggested Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing alliance had suffered a setback.

With neither major political camp securing a clear majority, Arab-led parties could play an important role in deciding who forms the next government.

Speaking early on Wednesday at his far-right Religious Zionism party’s election headquarters in Jerusalem, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich dismissed opposition celebrations and promised to preserve the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.

He said his political opponents would not reverse the government’s settlement “revolution”, declaring: “Jewish settlements will be established in Gaza.”

Israel dismantled its settlements in Gaza in 2005.

Earlier on Tuesday, Smotrich warned on Facebook that voter turnout was unusually high in Arab communities and left-wing strongholds, without providing supporting figures.

He claimed that failing to mobilise right-wing voters could allow “terror supporters” to enter government.

Netanyahu, who leads the right-wing Likud party, made similar appeals during voting, warning that Arab voters were rushing to polling stations and that an opposition victory would threaten Israel’s Jewish character.

He also accused three senior figures from Ra’am, an Arab-majority party, of attempting to steal the election.

Police confirmed they arrested three people on suspicion of voter bribery, but there was no indication they held senior positions in Ra’am.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev, also from Likud, echoed the unsubstantiated election theft allegations in a post on X on Tuesday. “They’re trying to steal the elections and the country from us,” she said. “It’s either the right or Palestine.”

British-American political scientist Dov Waxman told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu’s plan after the inconclusive election result will likely be to “hammer home the message” to the Israeli public that a governing coalition that consists of Arab parties is “illegitimate”.

Arab political leaders condemned Netanyahu’s election-day messages as racist and inflammatory.

Al Jazeera correspondent Nida Ibrahim, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said Netanyahu’s bloc of right-wing and religious parties was projected to win 56 seats, with about 55 percent of ballots counted, short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in Israel’s 120-seat parliament.

She said Mansour Abbas, the leader of Ra’am, claimed he had received approaches from both Netanyahu’s Likud and the opposition camp led by Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief who heads the Yashar party.