Far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gvir seeks arrest of Arab party leaders

Israel‘s far-right national security minister on Thursday called for the arrest of Israeli Arab leaders whose parties made strong gains in this week’s election, citing unproven accusations of foreign funding.

Israel’s security agency Shin Bet “must order, already this morning, the arrests of the heads of Arab parties suspected of involvement in Qatari money”, Itamar Ben Gvir wrote on X.

He was pointing to unproven claims made by several ministers that the parties, who could be kingmakers after neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor the opposition bloc secured a majority, took money from Qatar, the energy-rich Gulf powerbroker that has channels to Hamas.