Negev school principals among suspects held in Ra'am election bribery probe

Update, 29 October, 13:08 Israel time

Most of those detained in the latest round of arrests are school principals from the Negev, Israel's southern desert region. Ynet reported in a breaking alert that 3 of the 4 detainees in the Ra'am affair hold posts as heads of schools in the Negev. The alert did not name them, say which schools they run or describe their link to the party.

Ynet's figure of 4 detainees matches the number the Times of Israel gave earlier, citing police.

A separate account gives a higher figure. The Telegram channel Abu Ali Express, citing Israeli Arab sources, said 7 people are being held in the Negev election bribery affair. The post did not say whether 7 is the total detained since the investigation began or the number from the latest round, and police have not confirmed it in the reports received so far.

Neither new report includes a response from Ra'am, from the suspects or their lawyers, or from the education authorities responsible for the schools.

The story as first reported

Israeli police have detained further suspects in an investigation into alleged election bribery connected to Ra'am, an Arab party represented in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. The Hebrew news channel News.co.il reported that three more people had been arrested on suspicion of offences against the integrity of elections, and that they were due to be questioned during the day.

Later reports gave a different figure. The Times of Israel, citing police, reported that four Ra'am activists had been arrested in the alleged scheme. Political commentator Amit Segal first noted on his Telegram channel that additional detentions had been reported, and later wrote that four more suspects were under questioning in the affair, which Hebrew media refer to as the case of election bribery in envelopes.

Three or four suspects

The reports do not agree on the number of people detained in this round. News.co.il put the figure at three arrests. The Times of Israel, attributing its account to police, said four activists were arrested, and Segal's later post also referred to four suspects being questioned. It is not clear from the material whether the difference reflects an additional arrest made after the first report, or a distinction between people formally arrested and people questioned. This article reports both figures rather than choosing between them.

All of the reports describe these as additional suspects, which indicates that the investigation had already produced earlier detentions. The reports do not say how many people have been detained in total.

What Ra'am is

Ra'am is the Hebrew acronym for the United Arab List, a party that draws its support mainly from Arab citizens of Israel and has roots in the southern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. It is led by Mansour Abbas. The party drew wide attention when it became the first independent Arab party to join an Israeli governing coalition. The reports do not identify any of the suspects by name, and the Times of Israel describes them only as activists, not as party officials or lawmakers.

The suspected offence

The Hebrew phrase used in the News.co.il report refers to harming the purity, or integrity, of elections. In Israeli criminal law this is a category of offences covering conduct such as vote buying and other interference with the fairness of a ballot. Election bribery, which the reports name as the core suspicion here, means offering money or other benefits in exchange for votes. The reference to envelopes in the name the case has acquired appears in the Hebrew reports, but none of them explains what role envelopes are alleged to have played.

How the news emerged

The first word came through short posts on Telegram, a messaging platform widely used by Israeli journalists and news outlets to publish breaking updates. Segal's initial post said only that further detainees had been reported in the affair. The News.co.il update followed with the figure of three, and the Times of Israel later published its item citing police and giving the figure of four. None of the reports includes a statement from Ra'am or from lawyers representing the suspects.

What the reports do not say

The material leaves several basic questions unanswered:

• Whether three or four people were arrested in this round, and whether any were released after questioning.
• Who the suspects are, and what connection, if any, they have to Ra'am's leadership.
• Which election the alleged bribery relates to, and where it is said to have taken place.
• What the envelopes referred to in the case's name are alleged to have contained or been used for.
• Which police unit is leading the investigation and how many people have been detained since it began.
• Whether Ra'am has responded to the arrests.

Israel.com will update this report if police or the party release further details.