Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party on Friday amplified unsubstantiated allegations that Arab-led parties had "stolen" the election, potentially with foreign assistance, as final results were expected to confirm Netanyahu's bloc had lost its majority in parliament.
The opposition accused Netanyahu of demonising the Arab population after a historic showing by Arab-led parties in an attempt to delegitimise the emerging results of the election. If the rest of the opposition teams up with Arab parties, a rare and politically risky move, they could potentially form a majority government in parliament, the Knesset. Final vote results were expected Friday evening.
Netanyahu's party, Likud, has been spreading claims of malfeasance by Arab-led parties since exit polls indicated the prime minister had suffered a setback in Tuesday's vote. But it ramped up the rhetoric after the head of Israel's election committee, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, said that "serious suspicions" of foreign interference had been brought before him.
In a letter to the Shin Bet security agency, Sohlberg said he could not verify the claims. But given their serious nature, he asked the agency to investigate.
Netanyahu's party responded with an inflammatory statement: "The elections in Israel have been stolen!" it said, claiming — without evidence — that the alleged election interference was "aimed at facilitating a foreign takeover of the Knesset, the Islamization of Israel and toppling of the right wing government".
Israeli media reported that members of Netanyahu’s party were accusing Qatar — a country that many Israelis view as a patron of Hamas, the Gaza-based militant group.
Qatar issued a quick denial, calling the allegations "ridiculous and dangerous".
Netanyahu's opponents accuse him of undermining vote
Netanyahu's main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, said Likud was trying to delegitimise the results. "They are doing this because they lost," he said.
By casting doubt on the vote, Netanyahu appeared to be positioning himself to block any potential alliance between his opponents and the Arab parties. Netanyahu has suggested that it would be treasonous for Eisenkot to join with Arab parties.
The projected outcome of the results was expected to show both Netanyahu's bloc of religious and nationalist allies and his more secular and socially liberal opponents falling short of a parliamentary majority required to form a new government. The Arab parties would hold the remaining seats and could potentially give Eisenkot the backing he needs to oust Netanyahu.
The Shin Bet, seeking to calm tensions, said its investigation was not meant to "cast aspersions" on an entire section of the population that "exercised its right to vote in a democratic and lawful manner."
The elections committee also sounded a note of caution in a letter written to a concerned member of parliament. It said that even though an investigation was taking place, "allegations of systematic violations of electoral integrity are baseless".
The committee wants findings from the Shin Bet within the week. Israeli law requires election results to be certified by November 4.
On Friday Yair Golan, head of the Democrats party, accused Netanyahu of "attempting to undermine the election results through an ugly delegitimization campaign directed against the will of the public — and against the Arab public in particular."
"Netanyahu is working to steal the election," the Arab-led Joint List party asserted Friday.
The head of the Arab-led Ra'am party, Mansour Abbas, welcomed the investigation into election interference and said his party had nothing to do with the case, while accusing Netanyahu of a campaign of incitement.
President Isaac Herzog called it a "sensitive moment" and called for a full investigation. He warned that "we must not tarnish an entire community that sought to exercise its right to vote and take an active part in democracy".
While the race for a 61-seat majority needed to control the 120-seat Knesset plays out, Netanyahu remains in charge.
With nearly all of the votes counted, Israeli media projected 53 parliament seats for Netanyahu's bloc, 48 seats for Eisenkot’s bloc and 19 for Arab-led parties.
If Netanyahu loses office, that would set off a cascade of events that critics say he has desperately sought to avoid. He would be taken to account over yearslong corruption allegations, and an inquiry almost certainly would begin into the security failures that led to the devastating Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack.
SHARE ME