Qatar on Thursday denied allegations that it interfered in Israel's elections, pouring in money to influence the outcome. Qatar's foreign ministry said the country shouldn't be "used as a scapegoat for the political failures of certain Israeli politicians".As of the latest reported results, Prime Minister Netanyahu's bloc is leading with around 53-54 seats, ahead of the opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot, which is expected to secure 48 seats, while neither side has secured the 61 seats needed for a majority.

With 90% of the votes counted, the Arab parties together won 19 seats.Israeli security agency Shin Bet was probing suspicions that foreign entities, potentially including Qatar and Turkey, funnelled money to influence voting in Arab communities, The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday.It said that investigation came upon a directive from Israel's Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg. Majed Al Ansari, the official Spokesperson for Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Doha categorically denied allegations that it interfered in Israeli elections or funded any activities intended to influence their outcome."We reject the accusations made by certain Israeli politicians and their contacts in the media, who have launched yet another disinformation campaign aiming to drag Qatar into Israeli political disputes following this week's elections," Al Ansari wrote on X. "They accuse Qatar of buying off Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli political left and now, in this latest campaign, the Arab vote.

If these claims were to be believed, Qatar would apparently own all of Israel," wrote Al Ansari.The allegations came amid very high voting by Arab Israelis. While the overall turnout was 77.7%, the turnout among the Arabs was reported at around 60% of the total Arab population.The Joint List, an alliance of Arab parties, alleged Netanyahu was "trying to steal the election", and they would not allow "attempts to undermine the results".This came even as Yitzhak Kroizer, a lawmaker from Israel's far-right Otzma Yehudit party, called on supporters to arm themselves, warning that Arab Israelis would resort to violence if some of their votes were invalidated, reported Israeli media outlet Hareetz."From what I hear from voices in the Arab street, if Justice [Noam] Solhberg allows the invalidation of votes for the United Arab List (Ra'am), taking down the number of [Knesset] seats that the UAL has, they will begin a Operation Guardian of the Walls," Kroizer said in a video, reported Hareetz.The reference was to a military operation in Gaza in May 2021 when Arabs clashed violently with Jews in Israel."Therefore, I'm calling on you to go out and arm yourself, as long as Ben-Gvir is national security minister and the [gun license] reform still stands," Kroizer said.- Ends