Netanyahu accused of demonizing Israel's Arab population to 'delegitimize' election

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - JERUSALEM — Israeli opposition leaders have denounced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for amplifying unsubstantiated allegations that Arab-led parties had “stolen” the election, potentially with foreign assistance, as final results showed his Likud bloc had lost its majority in parliament.

The opposition accused Netanyahu of demonizing the Arab population after a historic showing by Arab-led parties in an attempt to delegitimize 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.

Results released by election officials on Thursday showed Netanyahu’s bloc winning 53 seats in the 120-member assembly, well below the 68 seats it had controlled at its peak in the previous parliament.

Netanyahu's Likud accused Israel's Arab-led parties of "stealing" the election. Home security agency Shin Bet is investigating whether they received illegal funding from Qatar and Turkey.

Qatar's foreign ministry denied the "ridiculous and dangerous" allegations and accused Israeli politicians of conducting a disinformation campaign against Doha.

Final results confirmed that neither Netanyahu's bloc nor the Jewish opposition had won a majority in parliament.

The two Arab party lists — The Joint List and the Ra'am — defied expectations to win a record 19 seats in the 120-seat Knesset following a surge in turnout among Arab voters.

That positions them as potential kingmakers, with Netanyahu's bloc winning 53 seats and his rival Gadi Eisenkot's bloc securing 48.

On Thursday Likud alleged that voters had been "bribed" to vote for Arab parties, after the head of the Central Elections Committee (CEC) asked the Shin Bet security service to investigate "serious suspicions" of foreign interference.

Both Arab parties strongly rejected the claim, with the Arab-majority Joint List alliance saying it was baseless.

The row is being seen by Netanyahu's critics as an attempt to delegitimize the Arab parties, thereby making it politically impossible for Eisenkot to join forces with them, which is currently his bloc's only route to power.

Israeli media reported that the CEC had been presented with a claim that Qatar had provided funding aimed at increasing voter turnout in Arab communities.

Netanyahu and his Likud Party framed the allegations as a "political earthquake" and "an attack on democracy", aimed at removing their right-wing government.

But the Shin Bet later clarified that their investigation did not implicate an entire community who had voted legally, while acting CEC Director General Dean Livne 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," and accused Netanyahu of running "an orchestrated and organized campaign to delegitimize the election results".

On Thursday, 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 Thursday.

Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh, who is part of the Joint List, dismissed the allegation, saying: "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."

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.”

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.

Arab Israelis, many of whom refer to themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel, make up about 20 percent of the country's population.

For years, many boycotted Israeli elections, saying voting would legitimise a system that they say treats them as second-class citizens. But their turnout on Tuesday was inspired by a desire to oust the most right-wing governing coalition in Israel's history, led by Netanyahu.

The final results offer only three plausible options for a government to be formed: a national unity government involving Netanyahu and Eisenkot, a right-wing coalition involving Netanyahu and defectors from Eisenkot's bloc, or an Eisenkot-led government supported by the Arab parties.

Eisenkot and every member of his bloc bar one has previously refused to enter government with Arab parties, but speculation has swirled in recent days that an agreement could yet be reached.

A snap poll conducted by Hebrew University showed that the most popular option for voters from every party in the opposition bloc was for Eisenkot to form a minority government with Ra'am, and supported from outside by the Joint List.