MK Amit Halevi Alleges Vote Buying Scheme in Rahat

Member of Knesset Amit Halevi of the Likud party claimed in an interview with Channel 14 that he witnessed residents of Rahat being offered money and fuel vouchers in exchange for their votes during the recent elections. Halevi stated he personally encountered individuals who were offered 400 shekels, then 800 shekels, and subsequently fuel vouchers. He reported that these residents had informed election committee representatives and attempted to contact the police, though officers allegedly arrived late.

Halevi asserted that these incidents, which he claims occurred near polling stations at the Al-Hikma school, were not isolated but suggested a broader mechanism of vote buying. He stated he documented these testimonies and presented them to the Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Justice Noam Sohlberg, and the acting director-general of the committee. The Likud party has reportedly filed 1,200 complaints regarding election day conduct, which Halevi described as "mega-corruption."

Furthermore, Halevi raised suspicions of foreign state involvement in funding these alleged activities, drawing parallels to money transfer networks he encountered during his work on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He criticized politicians, including Gadi Eisenkot, for framing the issue as a political dispute rather than a serious electoral integrity concern. Halevi emphasized that Knesset members should be elected solely by Israeli citizens, not by external funding.

He also claimed to have warned security officials about potential foreign funding two months prior to the elections and criticized the IDF's intelligence division for not identifying such financial transfers through civilian systems in a timely manner. Halevi urged Justice Sohlberg to prevent the approval of election results based on alleged bribery, stating that results derived from vote buying should not be validated.