Palestinians Face Intimidation After Record 19-Seat Election Win

Photo: Olivier Fitoussi/Pool via The Jerusalem Post (Zini and Baharav-Miara at a memorial ceremony in Jerusalem, 5 October 2026)

Palestinian citizens of Israel voted in record numbers and won a record 19 seats in parliament, and since then they have faced police raids, arrests and an attempt by the security service to question their leaders.

Israel has now certified the election results, a blow to claims from the right that the vote was stolen. But Al Jazeera reports that the record result for the Palestinian-led parties, the Joint List and the United Arab List (Ra'am), has been followed by what it calls a systematic security crackdown.

Turnout tells the first half of the story. Nearly 80 percent of Palestinian citizens voted on 27 October, against 53 percent last time, according to the Mossawa Center, a civil society group working for equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel. That surge gave the two Palestinian-led parties 19 seats in the 120 seat Knesset, and with neither big bloc holding a majority, those 19 seats could decide who forms the next government.

The second half began on election day itself. As reported by The Jerusalem Post, police arrested several Ra'am supporters for alleged vote buying, which Likud at once used to claim an attempt to steal the election. Many of the suspects were quickly released, with a judge noting that suspicions had weakened and investigators had failed to explain why restrictions were needed. Defence lawyers said the seized funds were meant for charitable help. Ahmad Tibi, leader of the Ta'al Party inside the Joint List, put it sharply: "We said from the beginning that the mountain laboured and brought forth a mouse."

The crackdown then reached beyond party workers. Abd Abu Shahadeh, a journalist and political activist, was arrested on Tuesday night by police and the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security service.

The sharpest row is over the Shin Bet itself. The Jerusalem Post reports that Shin Bet director David Zini asked to interrogate senior Palestinian lawmakers, including Tibi and Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas, over claims of foreign interference in the election. Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara denied the request, saying it is not permissible to interrogate citizens or elected officials without evidence to justify such action, and stressing that Israel is a state governed by the rule of law.

The Shin Bet later clarified, according to N12 News as reported by the Post, that its request had been to investigate people in the lawmakers' circles, not the lawmakers themselves. That clarification has not ended the row. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has demanded the attorney-general's removal, and Likud has accused her of tying the Shin Bet's hands.

Abbas dismissed the allegations as an attempt to smear the Arab public, and said he and all members of his party are prepared to appear before any law enforcement authority, provided the process runs under the attorney-general and the judicial system.

Tibi told Al Jazeera this is not new, only sharper. He said political intimidation began on 7 October 2023, when celebrities from his community were summoned for investigation simply for liking a post or writing a Quranic verse whose meaning was twisted. He also pointed to late September, when the electoral committee tried to disqualify the Palestinian-led parties from the election, a decision later overturned by the Supreme Court. "The tools multiplied and the goal is one, which is indeed to intimidate us from political work as candidates and voters," he said.

Political analyst Mamoun Abu Amer told Al Jazeera the backlash was preplanned, a systematic campaign that began when Arab citizens mobilised heavily, especially in the villages, the Naqab and the Bedouin areas. Human rights expert Mustafa Ibrahim added that Palestinian citizens have long been viewed as a fifth column, and pointed to more than 190 people killed in Palestinian communities in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem this year in violence partly blamed on a lack of policing and government funding.

The numbers behind the row are stark. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc won 53 seats and the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot won 48, with 61 needed for a majority. That is why the 19 seats won by the Palestinian-led parties matter so much, and why the fight over whether their vote was fair has become a fight over who gets to govern.

What this means in plain terms: a community that stayed away from the polls for years turned out in force, won real power, and is now being told its win is suspect. The certified result stands, but the arrests, the Shin Bet request and the attack on the attorney-general show how hard the losers are pushing back.

Sources

• Al Jazeera: Palestinian citizens of Israel face intimidation after election success
• The Jerusalem Post: Shin Bet's Zini requests to interrogate Arab party senior lawmakers, Attorney-General denies
• The Times of Israel: Shin Bet chief said to seek questioning of 4 Arab politicians without providing evidence

The next test is whether President Isaac Herzog's coalition talks give the Palestinian-led parties a real say, or whether the intimidation campaign pushes them back to the margins.

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