Israel’s main opposition leader, Gadi Eisenkot, and leaders of Arab-led parties have strongly criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his allegations of foreign interference after his governing coalition lost its parliamentary majority in the election.
The backlash follows claims by Netanyahu’s Likud party that Arab-led party lists had “stolen” the election. The allegations prompted Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, to investigate whether the parties had received illegal funding from Qatar and Turkey, reports BBC.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry categorically rejected the claims as “ridiculous and dangerous”, accusing Israeli politicians of running a targeted disinformation campaign against Doha.
The final election results confirmed that neither Netanyahu’s bloc, which secured 53 seats, nor Eisenkot’s opposition bloc, which won 48 seats, had secured a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Meanwhile, the two Arab party lists, The Joint List and Ra’am, defied expectations by winning a record 19 seats following a surge in turnout among Arab voters, positioning them as potential kingmakers.
On Thursday, Likud alleged that voters had been “bribed” to vote for Arab parties. The allegations came after the head of the Central Elections Committee (CEC) asked Shin Bet to investigate “serious suspicions” of foreign interference, following Israeli media reports that Qatari funding had been provided to boost voter turnout in Arab communities.
However, Shin Bet later clarified that its investigation did not implicate an entire community that had voted legally. Acting CEC Director General Dean Livne also said there was “no basis for allegations of systematic violations of election integrity”.
Eisenkot, who was briefed on the investigation, said “it is too early to determine what happened, or if anything happened at all”. He accused Netanyahu of conducting “an orchestrated and organized campaign to delegitimize the election results”.
Arab leaders also rejected the allegations as baseless. Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh, a member of The Joint List alliance, said: “The losing side is constructing a racist blood libel and calling on the security agencies to use force in order to overturn the election results”.
Critics view the controversy as an attempt by Netanyahu to delegitimise the Arab parties and make it politically impossible for Eisenkot to join forces with them, currently the only route through which his bloc could come to power.
The allegations follow days of attacks by Netanyahu on Arab voters and parties.
On election day, Netanyahu repeatedly posted on social media that high Arab voter turnout was an “emergency” and a “matter of life or death” for the Israeli right. He also shared AI-generated images of Arab voters at polling stations to encourage right-wing turnout.
Arab Israelis, many of whom identify themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel, account for roughly one-fifth of the country’s population.
Although many have historically boycotted Israeli elections over concerns that voting would legitimise a system that treats them as second-class citizens, turnout on Tuesday was driven by a desire to oust Netanyahu’s governing coalition, the most right-wing in the country’s history.
With parliament deadlocked, the final results leave only three plausible options for forming a government: a national unity government involving Netanyahu and Eisenkot; a right-wing coalition led by Netanyahu with defectors from Eisenkot’s bloc; or an Eisenkot-led government supported by the Arab parties.
Although Eisenkot and all but one member of his bloc have previously ruled out joining a government with Arab parties, speculation has grown over a possible agreement.
A snap poll conducted by Hebrew University found that the most favoured option across all opposition parties was for Eisenkot to form a minority government with Ra’am, with The Joint List supporting it from outside.
