Turnout hits historic high as Israel votes; election committee rejects multiple claims of foul play

Voter turnout was historically high for Israel’s national election Tuesday, with at least three million Israelis across the country casting ballots as of 2 p.m., according to the Central Elections Committee. It reported 44.9% turnout, the highest ever at that hour, as the country held its first election after three traumatic years of war and turmoil.

Turnout was up from 38.9% at the same time in the 2022 election, the CEC said, adding that polling stations would remain open after 10 p.m. if people were still waiting in line to vote. Most voting stations opened at 7 a.m. and were set to close at 10 p.m.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is looking to remain in power and fend off a push from opposition parties led by Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar, appealed to right-wing voters to “race to the polls,” as he warned of high voter turnout in Arab and left-wing areas. Dusting off a controversial playbook from previous elections, Netanyahu claimed that “they are trying to steal the election from us,” pushing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud, especially in the Arab sector.

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Promoted: Jewish Crossroads, Avi Issacharoff

Netanyahu was not the only party leader to allege fraud or issue complaints to the CEC, as Eisenkot’s Yashar, Naftali Bennett’s B’Yachad, Ofer Winter’s People of Israel, Avigdor Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu, Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am, and Yoaz Hendel’s Reservists-Economic party all reported alleged irregularities, including missing or defaced ballot slips and other suspected attempts to interfere with voting.

However, the CEC said there was no evidence of systematic tampering with ballot slips, adding that individual reports were being addressed immediately.

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The Israel Police on Tuesday morning said three operatives for the traditionalist Arab Ra’am party had been arrested on suspicion of bribing voters.

A man was also arrested in Tel Aviv after he apparently tried to stab Democrats party chief Yair Golan in Tel Aviv’s Mesila Park, the party said. While police confirmed that officers had arrested a suspect who approached Golan in possession of a knife, they denied that there was an attempted stabbing.

While overall voter turnout across the country stood at 31.5% as of noon, some towns recorded much higher rates, according to CEC data.

Topping the list was the Bedouin community of al-Atawneh in the Negev Desert, near Hura, where 64.1% of eligible voters had cast their ballots by noon. A total of 75 votes had been cast in al-Atawneh.

Many other small towns had similarly high turnout rates, reaching nearly 50%.

Among larger cities, outliers include Rahat, with a turnout of 39.9%, or 11,972 votes, and Modiin, with 36.7%, or 22,720 votes.

Voter turnout among IDF soldiers stood at 48% as of 1 p.m., according to the military. In the last election, in 2022, it was 44.4% at that hour.

And among eligible prisoners, voter turnout stood at 68.1% as of 2 p.m., according to the Israel Prison Service, which said voting at its facilities across the country was proceeding as usual.

IDF soldiers began voting a week ago, with 850 polling stations deployed at military bases across the country and beyond Israel’s borders.

Netanyahu: Arab turnout soaring, Jewish state at risk

Amid the unusually high turnout, Netanyahu took to social media with a series of alarmist messages to urge his base to vote, warning that Arab voter rates in the Negev were far higher than those of Jews, without explaining where he got those statistics from. “You must go out and vote,” he urged.

In a video to Likud voters, Netanyahu claimed that “they are trying to steal the election from us,” referring to what he claimed were three “senior Ra’am” figures who he said were arrested with money-filled envelopes on suspicion of bribing voters.

“It’s serious,” he said. “It’s criminal. They will reach every single person. You have been warned.”

“You also must race to the ballot,” he said. “No beach, no barbecue, everyone goes out to vote Likud.”

“What hangs in the balance is the future of our Jewish state,” he said, warning that a victory by opposition Zionist and Arab parties “will bring an end to the Jewish state as we know it.” Netanyahu also sent out multiple social media posts, warning of what he said was high turnout on the left and among Arab voters and low turnout on the right.

Likud Transportation Minister Miri Regev echoed Netanyahu’s unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud, claiming that unnamed actors were attempting to steal the election.

“They’re trying to steal the election and the country from us,” Regev declared in a post on X, urging supporters to vote. “It’s either the right or Palestine.”

And far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir delivered a video statement from the Arab city of Kafr Qassem, calling on supporters to vote for his Otzma Yehudit party to counter the “crazy voting rate” in Arab communities.

“Now it’s up to you. If you want this country to stay Jewish and Zionist, if you don’t want it to be in the hands of Mansour Abbas and Ahmad Tibi, go out and vote,” Ben Gvir said, referring to the leader of the Arab-majority party Ra’am and a member of the Joint List, respectively.

Responding, Eisenkot’s Yashar party accused Netanyahu of attempting to undermine confidence in the election results and lay the groundwork for a challenge to the outcome.

“Netanyahu is panicking and has begun making up stories and claiming that the election is being stolen. This is no accident. He is already laying the groundwork to challenge the election results,” Eisenkot’s party said in a statement.

Yashar urged supporters to deliver an overwhelming victory over Likud to leave no room for Netanyahu to dispute the outcome.

“Today’s margin must be enormous, a lead that cannot be shaken,” the party said.

Eisenkot cast his ballot in Herzliya, accompanied by his wife, Hannah, and other family members, as supporters greeted him with chants of “Who’s coming? The next prime minister!” and “Gadi, Gadi, Gadi!”

Some in the crowd chanted “Bibi, Bibi, Bibi,” referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his nickname.

“We are setting Israel on a new path,” Eisenkot said after voting. “We will be worthy of your trust. I promise.”

Man arrested with knife, campaign says tried to stab Golan

As the country voted, at least four people were arrested for alleged crimes in connection to the election.

In Tel Aviv, a man was arrested after he approached Democrats party chief Golan “in an intimidating manner,” the party said. A large knife then fell out of the man’s clothes on to the ground, and Golan’s security detail tackled him and alerted police, who detained him.

Golan was quoted in the party’s statement as saying the incident “is the direct result of the poison machine operated by” Netanyahu “and his Qatari agents.”

“The incitement and violence won’t intimidate us,” Golan said.

Police later confirmed in a statement that they arrested a suspect near Golan, a Jerusalem resident in his 20s, in possession of a knife, but denied that there was an attempted stabbing.

Three arrested, suspected of bribing people to vote for Ra’am

Earlier Tuesday, police said that three men from Bedouin communities in the south were arrested overnight on suspicion of involvement in a scheme to bribe people to vote for the traditionalist Arab party Ra’am.

Officers who searched the suspects’ homes found evidence including envelopes containing tens of thousands of shekels in cash, according to police.

The three were to be brought before a judge on Tuesday for a hearing on keeping them in custody, police added.

Ra’am slammed what it called “sham arrests that aim to thwart Ra’am and bring down voting in Arab society.”

The activists were arrested in their homes hours before polls opened, “not near polling stations or voters,” the party said.

The party added that the arrests are “part of the political use” Ben Gvir has made of the police.

Meanwhile, in the Arab-majority southern communities, locals reported unusually long lines and slow identification processes drawing accusations of an intentional attempt to interrupt voting.

Yaela Raanan, a member of a team promoting election integrity in the Bedouin community, told the Haaretz daily that people were waiting several hours to vote and that a process of checking identification is holding up voting in Negev Bedouin towns.

“There is a feeling it is on purpose, because this is happening in many locations,” he said.

In Tel Sheva and Segev Shalom, police officers were seen entering polling stations, according to the Haaretz daily.

The Adalah Arab legal aid group said it had received reports of long delays in Arab communities in the Galilee and the south, and that election supervisors were managing voting slowly and asking irrelevant questions.

At a Kafr Qara polling booth, it was reported that only one person had voted by 10 a.m., the group said.

Charedi Public booth vandalized, materials set on fire

Meanwhile, Charedi Public chairman Moti Leitner said his party received hundreds of reports of intimidation and harassment at polling stations, as videos showed ultra-Orthodox youths vandalizing a booth manned by party activists in the West Bank settlement of Modiin Illit and setting campaign materials on fire.

“In recent hours, we have received a wave of reports of intimidation and bullying at polling stations, including the removal of [Charedi Public] ballot slips from polling stations, attacks on our activists and, even more seriously, threats against voters,” Leitner said.

פעילים של מפלגת הציבור החרדי הותקפו מחוץ לקלפי במודיעין עילית על ידי עשרות צעירים חרדים. העמדה של המפלגה הושחתה וחומרי ההסברה הועלו באש.
איפה המשטרה? @IL_police pic.twitter.com/p1m27zqNWG

— אהרן רבינוביץ (@AronRabino1) October 27, 2026

He claimed voters had been warned that if the party’s ballot slips were found in ballot boxes, their votes would be identified and they would face retaliation.

“We call on the Israel Police to get its act together and do its job,” Leitner said. “Otherwise, we will witness one of the most violent and fraudulent election campaigns in the ultra-Orthodox community.”