🇶🇦 ‘Election meddling’ probes involving Qatar, Israel’s Arab parties coming apart at the seams The Likud-led smear campaign accusing Arab parties of ‘stealing’ the October 27 elections with outside assistance are coming undone, with police investigators reportedly frustrated over being asked to probe a nothingburger. “There’s a huge gap between [Shin Bet chief and Netanyahu loyalist David] Zini’s claims and the reality,” a police official told Channel 12, referencing the joint Shin Bet-police commission formed to investigate the alleged irregularities. A Shin Bet insider accused Zini of serving “his master,” the prime minister, to try to prevent the elections’ certification. 🔊“We have lost confidence in the head of the Shin Bet,” a second, senior police official said. Police intelligence department deputy head Boaz Blatt has reportedly ordered staff to run all new information regarding the case by him before forwarding it to the Shin Bet. The individual details in the case, including the central claim of Qatari involvement, are also collapsing: ➡️ Qatar is not mentioned at all in materials given to police by Shin Bet ➡️a criminal case against three Bedouin activists arrested for purportedly trying to pay people to vote for the Ra’am Party is likely to be thrown out unless additional evidence is unearthed ➡️ a second case involving alleged foreign funding for Joint List “is also turning out to be very different from what was initially described,” per a summary by the Times of Israel Likud claimed Palestinian-Israeli parties “stole” their victories in last week’s vote after they won an unprecedented 19 seats and became potential kingmakers for the opposition’s efforts to oust Netanyahu, who’s been in power for 19 of the last 30 years. 👍 Substack | Chat | @geopolitics_prime