Netanyahu Questions Qatari Influence on Arab Parties Ahead of Elections

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly questioned Qatar's involvement with Arab political parties in Israel, following a Shin Bet investigation into alleged foreign funding and election bribery among Arab voters. Netanyahu posted on X (formerly Twitter), asking why Ahmad Tibi, chairman of the Ta'al party, visited Qatar just four days before the elections. The Likud party, Netanyahu's party, has labeled the allegations a "terror attack on democracy," with MKs Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir calling for investigations and arrests of Arab party leaders, respectively. Avigdor Lieberman warned of a "dramatic and unprecedented event."

Tibi, during a one-day visit to Doha, told Al Jazeera that the way to oust Netanyahu and form an alternative government was by increasing voter turnout in the Arab community, calling the elections "dangerous and fateful."

Following Tibi's interview, former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani praised Tibi and Arab parties in Israel on X, noting the increase in Arab seats in the Knesset to 19. He expressed hope that this would help Palestinian citizens in Israel preserve their rights and live in peace. Sheikh Hamad, known as an architect of the Arab Spring and for Qatar's funding of Islamist groups globally, also recalled a 2013 suspicion that Qatar indirectly funded the Balad party through the "Baladna" organization to cover election debts, a practice prohibited by Israeli law.

The article also references a secret 2011 meeting in Paris between Netanyahu and Sheikh Hamad, mediated by then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, concerning the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal. Sheikh Hamad revealed that the deal was conditioned on allowing cement and steel into Gaza, which he claimed Netanyahu accepted. This, the article suggests, contributed to the construction of Gaza's tunnel network, including a neighborhood inhabited by Hamas leaders.