Netanyahu: Police Ignored 80 Out of 82 Complaints on Election Fraud

With three days until the election, both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and challenger Benny Gantz went on an interview blitz Motzoei Shabbos, making themselves available to nearly all media outlets. Speaking to Kan News, Netanyahu said he planned to meet with Central Election Committee Chairman Chanan Meltzer to discuss a report that police ignored large numbers of complaints about election fraud in the April election.

He told Kan News that in a weekend report in Maariv “I discovered a disturbing fact. Police contacted the managers of only two of the 82 polling places that complained about fraud. When they investigate me they send people to the Philippines and the Amazon. Could police not do what one reporter managed to do?” Earlier, Netanyahu had met with top staff and called Meltzer to arrange for a meeting to discuss the matter. Gantz, meanwhile, who spoke to Channel 12 and 13, said that he recommended that Meltzer not meet with Netanyahu. “This is just more election spin by Netanyahu,” he said. “He is just seeking to damage Israeli democracy.”

In the interview, Netanyahu repeated comments from last week that a military action in Gaza was imminent. “It appears we will have no choice but to act fully against Hamas. We may have to go on a major campaign. When we do we will ensure that we have minimal losses. I will choose the timing. We have not yet discussed details with the security establishment.”

In his interviews, Gantz said that he would fulfill his rotation agreement with Yair Lapid. “I intend to stand behind my agreements and I think the nation respects that.” As far as polls that show that support for his party would rise as much as 30% if the agreement were canceled, Gantz said that “I hear about these polls in the media, but I believe the public respects the fulfillment of agreements. We present ourselves in Blue and White as a single party that can have differences with each other and respect each other.”

Gantz also emphasized his commitment to establishing “a secular, national government. We want to establish a government in which the minority will not rule over the majority. I am not against any group and intend to serve the Arabs, religious and secular publics, everyone except for two types – the fanatics and the messianists, and those among the Arabs who work against the state,” he added.