Palestinian citizens of Israel face intimidation after election success

Meanwhile, Netanyahu and his allies have portrayed the increased vote share for the Palestinian-led parties as the result of illegality , a+nd say they represent Jewish Israelis. “From the beginning, it was clearly a systematic campaign when Arab citizens mobilised heavily, especially in the villages, the Naqab and the Bedouin areas,” Abu Amer said. He noted that the heavy turnout deeply shocked the Israeli political establishment, prompting Netanyahu to launch a smear campaign to discredit the democratic process.

The intimidation campaign against Palestinian citizens of Israel materialised through aggressive police actions on election day. As reported by The Jerusalem Post, police arrested several Ra’am supporters for alleged vote-buying, which Likud immediately invoked to claim an attempt to steal the election. However, many of the suspects were quickly released, with a judge noting that suspicions had weakened and that investigators had failed to explain why restrictions were necessary.

Defence lawyers maintained the seized funds were intended for charitable assistance.