Netanyahu has 53 seats and needs 61. Eisenkot has 48. The Arab lists have 19. The count is complete, and the only majority anyone can build is Eisenkot plus the Arab lists: 67. On Thursday the state started investigating the people who voted for those 19 seats. Justice Noam Sohlberg, who runs the elections committee, told the Shin Bet to look into "improper influence on the elections through foreign funding provided by external actors operating against Israeli interests." He named no country, said he "cannot attest to the substance of these suspicions," and wants an answer within a week. The accusation is Likud's: Qatari money paid for the Arab turnout. The committee's own acting director, Dean Livne, said there was no basis for claims of widespread fraud. The police said they had "no investigative or intelligence evidence" that the election was stolen. Police have held seven people in a vote-buying case tied to Ra'am, found no significant evidence and expect to close it, ynet reported.
Donald Trump asked on Wednesday for Alaska's Democratic Senate candidate to be prosecuted. On Thursday he flew to Rock Hill, South Carolina, to prop up Darline Graham. She is Lindsey Graham's sister. She got his seat in July, after he died, on Trump's recommendation. She is tied. The New York Times/Siena poll of 707 South Carolina voters, taken Oct. 19 to 26, has Graham and the Democrat, Annie Andrews, at 48% each. Trump won the state by nearly 18 points two years ago.
The machine that worked American voters for Donald Trump in 2016 has been working Brazil's, and this time its co-founder is the vice president. On Tuesday, Oct. 27, Justice Flávio Dino of Brazil's Supreme Court ordered the Federal Police to find out whether Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign took foreign money through the Rockbridge Network, the donor group JD Vance co-founded, on petitions from Lula's party and a rival right-wing party.
Bolsonaro started the week a senator and the leading candidate for president; he ends it a fugitive on the run in Miami. Netanyahu started the week the all-powerful prime minister of a militarized Israel; by the end of it, the Arabs he detests look poised to end his political career. Trump walked in with a trifecta of power, and he will likely walk out with one. His own, with no real mandate to lead. This is the week, Vladimir Putin’s wildest dreams should come to an end. Brace yourself for the wreckage we will find on the other side.
FiveStack, 3 PM ET
At Narativ, we’ve understood Bibi Netanyahu for a long times. Here’s my piece from 5 years ago.
