Israel Election Results: Qatar Denies Netanyahu Vote Claims
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Arab Israeli parties used foreign backing to steal Tuesday's election, which cost his coalition its majority. Opposition…
Netanyahu's far-right coalition holds 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, with almost all votes counted in Israel's Tuesday election. It lost its majority after four years in power. Within a day, the prime minister was accusing his Arab Israeli rivals of using foreign money to "steal" the vote, a charge that Qatar rejected as the Israel election results settled.
The main Jewish opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot also fell short, with 48 seats. That leaves two Arab Israeli parties, the Joint List and Ra'am, holding the balance of power. Together they have 19 seats, a historic high for the Arab Israeli community, which makes up about a fifth of Israel's population.
Calls for a Shin Bet inquiry
Netanyahu and his allies asked the internal security service, Shin Bet, to investigate alleged vote buying and other irregularities in Palestinian communities in Israel. They said the activity was funded by foreign money.
On Wednesday night the prime minister posted a Likud statement online. It described the claimed violations as "an attack on democracy whose purpose is to lead to a foreign takeover of the Knesset, the Islamisation of Israel, and the overthrow of rightwing rule".
The statement did not name the foreign power. Press reports said it was Qatar. Majed al-Ansari, an adviser to Qatar's prime minister, said the government "categorically" denied any involvement in the elections.
Officials disown the claims
Few inside the Israeli system backed the allegations. Dean Livneh, acting director general of the central elections committee, said there appeared to be no basis for them. Police officials quoted across the Israeli press called them groundless and said voting had been relatively trouble-free.
President Isaac Herzog also weighed in. He urged political leaders to "avoid tarnishing an entire community that sought to exercise its right to vote and take an active part in democracy".
Eisenkot accused Likud of a deliberate strategy. "It's already clear that Likud and Netanyahu have embarked on a coordinated, organised campaign seeking to delegitimise the results of the election," he said in a video message. He said any investigation should proceed "without fear or favour" and with "the utmost caution", but should not delay convening the new Knesset. Lawmakers are due to be sworn in within 14 days of the election.
Yousef Jabareen, the Joint List leader, accused Netanyahu of incitement. "Netanyahu was defeated at the ballot box," he said, adding that the prime minister "refuses to come to terms with the fact that the Arab public voted and decided".
What is at stake in the Knesset
The allegations appear aimed at keeping Jewish and Arab opposition parties from voting together in the new parliament. Such a bloc could oust the incumbent speaker, Amir Ohana, a Likud politician and former Shin Bet official, and advance its own legislation.
The Likud statement made the goal explicit: "It is clear that no Zionist party should cooperate with Ra'am and the Joint List, replace the Knesset speaker through votes bought for cash, and form a government that is dangerous to Israel."
Netanyahu is 77 and has run Israel for 19 of the past 30 years. Record turnout among Arab Israelis, Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, appeared to be driven by anger at routine discrimination and fear that it could become far worse.
