[VIDEOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]
The Knesset Interior Committee held a session to address mounting allegations of election fraud in the recent Beit Shemesh municipal elections. Bayit Yehudi and other parties are demanding new elections in the city in the hope of ousting Mayor Rabbi Moshe Abutbul from office. They claim his bid for a second term was tainted with law-breaking and fraudulent voting.
Following that session MK Rav Uri Maklev told the press “Yesh Atid and Bayit Yehudi invested significant resources in the election in the city in the hope of emerging successful. However, the result of the election proves they failed as they did in many areas in Israel.”
“The chairwoman’s decision to hold a special session on the matter is unnecessary and populist and there is no cause other than media gain and inner-party political gain” Maklev stated.
“There is no substantive justification to convene the committee. Perhaps if there were allegations being investigated by police as some thought would occur, or if there was one party or another trying to prevent such an investigation, but the situation is that police are investigation and no one is hindering that investigation. What is the sense of the committee discussing this? What does the Interior Committee have to add to the matter” he added.
Maklev added that Beit Shemesh is not the only city in Israel in which the loser made allegations of foul play after losing the election by a small margin. This he explains has led to protests and seeking to delegitimize the election and in this case, those allegations are tainted by people seeking to advance their own political interests.
A look at the stormy Knesset committee session:
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Calls from Bayit Yehudi for new elections:
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(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
A losers game. There is little to no chance of new elections from a realistic standpoint.
MK Maklev is incorrect that “Yesh Atid and Bayit Yehudi” invested significant resources in this election. Yesh Atid had minimal if any involvement – they offered to provide logistical support and endorse Eli Cohen, and he refused.
This is typical of the Chareidi parties’ attempts to pull out the Yesh Atid boogeyman at every opportunity. Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid did work together on forming the coalition, but they have different viewpoints and agendas – and in a democracy, it’s necessary to try to find common ground. Yahadut HaTorah is currently working with the Left on social welfare issues, after all, and Shas sat in government with Meretz – including Shulamit Aloni, who was at least as anti-religious as Yair Lapid.
This is without even going into the issues of alleged and proven fraud in the election in favor of Mayor Abutbul. It has been clearly shown that there was material fraud; the only question is if it rose to a level where it would affect the outcome of the election. As such, it is very much the place of the Knesset to debate this, if for no other reason than to make sure the investigation is given the necessary level of priority.
an Israeli Yid
There was a massive amount of fraud in the chiloni/daati neighborhoods in support of Cohen. And the police are investigating it. This is quite well known.
#3 – Your post is flat-out not true; does Midvar Sheker Tirchak not appear in your version of the Torah?
While there have been numerous allegations re: fraud in Chareidi areas (including instances of double voting that a neighbor of mine, who was working as a poll observer, reported, as well as the widely reported incident of the 200 Te’udot Zahut), the only place I’ve seen or heard of any alleged fraud in Chiloni or Dati Le’umi areas is here in comments from those of your ilk. That leads me to believe that any such allegations of fraud in that direction are products of a febrile imagination.
To that end, I wish you a Refu’a Sheleima.
an Israeli Yid
##3 HA, HA…
#3 I live here. I have heard from both sides that there was fraud in particular neighborhoods. Unfortunately I cannot say that any allegations of fraud were against the chiloni or DL tsibbur.
I have heard from people who were monitoring the election for the government of multiple instances of fraud, all of them unfortunately from our tsibbur.