Netanyahu allies look to follow Trump 'voter fraud' playbook after setback in Israeli election: report

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies are reportedly planning a Trump-style propaganda blitz to discredit the results of their country's latest election in the event that they lack the votes to form a majority government.

Top Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that Likud supporters are unleashing a "Stop the Steal"-type campaign that will claim that "the left stole the vote" in the elections that were held on Tuesday.

Although there are currently no clear winners in the latest election even with 90 percent of ballots counted, Haaretz reports that rumor spreading on "the dark corners of the Israeli internet" are claiming that Israel's election has been marred by "widespread voter fraud in mail-in ballots" despite the fact that Israel has no vote-by-mail system.

The report claims this kind of campaign has been used by "Benjamin and Yair Netanyahu, Likud officials and their media proxies" since 2019.

According to NPR, the Israeli government appears headed for yet another stalemate, and "neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his opponents appear to have a secure path to forming a majority coalition needed to win."