Turkey has denied allegations that it interfered in Israel’s parliamentary election, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party claimed the vote was stolen and Israeli election officials denied accusations of widespread fraud, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The allegations emerged after Tuesday’s election left Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc without a parliamentary majority, giving Arab-led parties a potentially decisive role in forming a government.
Turkey’s Center for Countering Disinformation, part of the presidency’s Communications Directorate, dismissed the claims on Thursday as “entirely baseless.”
“These allegations are part of a deliberate and blatant disinformation campaign aimed at manipulating public opinion,” the center said.
Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, is investigating suspected foreign interference at the request of the Central Elections Committee chairman, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg.
Israeli media have named Turkey and Qatar as possible sources of funding allegedly intended to influence voting in Arab communities. Sohlberg’s request named neither country and said he could not assess whether the suspicions were substantiated.
Qatar also denied involvement, calling the accusations “ridiculous and dangerous.”
Netanyahu’s Likud party has accused Arab-led parties of stealing the election, an allegation they deny. His leading rival, Gadi Eisenkot, accused Netanyahu of using an unfinished investigation to undermine the results.
Israeli election officials have also denied claims of widespread fraud. The election committee said early Friday that the investigation would not affect the results due to be submitted to President Isaac Herzog on November 4. Shin Bet said its inquiry was limited and did not implicate Arab voters as a community.
The completed count gave Netanyahu’s bloc 53 seats and Eisenkot’s bloc 48 in the 120-member parliament. The Joint List, an alliance of predominantly Arab parties, and Ra’am, a separate Arab Islamist party, won a combined 19 seats. Neither main bloc reached the 61 seats needed for a majority.
The allegations follow earlier Israeli claims against Ankara. In July unnamed Israeli security officials accused Turkey of trying to influence the campaign through social media but provided no evidence or details identifying those allegedly involved.
The allegations come amid a sharp deterioration in Turkish-Israeli relations over the war in Gaza.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly accused Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government of genocide and war crimes. Israel rejects the accusations and accuses Erdoğan of supporting Hamas, which Turkey does not designate as a terrorist organization.
Turkey recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv for consultations in November 2023 and halted direct trade with Israel in May 2024, saying commerce would not resume until Israel allowed the uninterrupted and adequate delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Ankara also filed a declaration of intervention in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in August 2024.
Turkey and Israel had restored full diplomatic relations in 2022 and exchanged ambassadors in early 2023 following years of tension, but the rapprochement collapsed after the outbreak of the Gaza war.
The Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, killed some 1,200 people in Israel, according to Israeli figures, and militants took 251 hostages.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 74,570 Palestinians and injured 175,808 since October 2023, Gaza’s Health Ministry reported on October 29.
The UN reported that 82 percent of Gaza’s structures had been damaged or destroyed as of June 16, 2026. A joint UN, EU and World Bank assessment issued in April 2026 found that 76.6 percent of the territory’s housing units had been damaged or destroyed, based on conditions as of October 2025.
