Three arrested over alleged scheme to bribe people to vote Ra’am, police say

Three men from Bedouin communities in the south were arrested overnight on suspicion of involvement in a scheme to bribe people to vote for the traditionalist Arab party Ra’am, police say.

Officers who searched the suspects’ homes found evidence including envelopes containing tens of thousands of shekels in cash, according to police.

The three will be brought before a judge today for a hearing on extending their remand, police add.

Ra’am slams the “sham arrests that aim to thwart Ra’am and bring down voting in Arab society.”

The activists were arrested in their homes hours before polls opened, “not near polling stations or voters,” the party says.

The party adds that the arrests are “part of the political use” National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has made of the police.