Israeli Judge Probes Possible Qatar-Linked Cash Scheme To Hijack Election And Topple Bibi

Israel’s national election just slammed headfirst into an international espionage scandal.

Noam Sohlberg, the Central Elections Committee chairman and deputy president of the Supreme Court of Israel, dropped a political grenade Thursday, formally demanding the Shin Bet internal security agency probe “serious suspicions” that hostile foreign players illegally poured cash into the race to hijack the results.

Following the money trail could lead straight to Qatar. Israeli intelligence believes that Qatar and Turkey may have funneled funds into Arab communities to artificially increase voter turnout, using financial networks that mimic pipelines once used to bankroll Palestinian terrorism.

The clandestine operation allegedly targeted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seeking to derail the embattled leader by flipping the Knesset. That would fit Doha’s longtime playbook like a glove. Qatar has spent years lavishing sanctuary and praise on Hamas killers while working to neutralize Netanyahu on the world stage.

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Qatar has never hidden its appetite for terror. When Hamas terrorists butchered 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, Doha immediately branded Israel “solely responsible.” Its state-run propaganda mouthpiece, Al Jazeera, instantly blasted calls to arms from terrorists like Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.

Top Qatari royals and defense chiefs routinely celebrated Hamas, with one minister declaring “We are all Hamas” and the Emir’s own mother openly exalting butcher Yahya Sinwar. When direct violence wasn’t enough, Qatar targeted Netanyahu through lawfare: bombshell revelations revealed Qatari handlers promised to “look after” International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan if he slapped arrest warrants on Netanyahu. Meanwhile, private spies ran smear jobs to discredit accusers of Khan’s misconduct.

Tuesday’s showdown produced unprecedented Arab turnout, with communities like Umm al-Fahm leaping from 38% in 2022 to 75.7%. The vote pushed Arab factions Ra’am and the Joint List to a historic 19 seats. 

But Israeli police arrested three operatives in the Negev hoarding stacks of cash envelopes and pre-printed ballots, followed by four more arrests on Thursday.

National police chief Danny Levy vowed cops will dig into every lead. Sohlberg gave Shin Bet director David Zini a seven-day deadline to display the evidence.

The revelations blow a massive hole in the plans of Netanyahu’s rivals. Center-left leader Gadi Eisenkot might have tried to use Ra’am’s seats to muster a fragile 61-seat majority and seize legislative power. But Ra’am is now tied to possible voting violations, and relying on Arab parties would be a colossal mistake.

Ironically, the alleged foreign bid to crush Netanyahu might have handed Netanyahu a golden ticket. With opposition leaders boxed out of teaming up with an Arab bloc tainted by Gulf cash, he holds all the cards. Either he can force a unity pact on his own terms or head toward a fresh rematch in which the splinter parties that lowered his vote would no longer be a factor.