Eisenkot warns of campaign to 'delegitimise' election

Israel's chief opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot has warned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was working to delegitimise election results with his allegations of malfeasance by Arab parties that performed well.

"It's already clear that Likud and Netanyahu have embarked on a coordinated, organised campaign seeking to delegitimise the results of the election," Mr Eisenkot said in a video message, referring to the prime minister's right-wing party.

Earlier, Arab parties rejected accusations of foreign funding and accused Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to scare the opposition against dealing with Israeli Arab politicians.

One of the leaders of the Arab Joint List party, Ahmad Tibi, said Mr Netanyahu was on an orchestrated, toxic campaign meant to undermine the election results.

"This entire campaign is directed against Eisenkot, to prevent him, intimidate and scare him off forming a government that relies on external support from the Joint List or Ra'am," Mr Tibi told Reuters, referring to the two Arab parties.

Leader of the Arab Ra'am party, Mansour Abbas, said his party was not involved in the reported suspicious conduct and urged a full investigation.

He said that Mr Netanyahu was on an incitement campaign against Israel's Arab citizens.

"We have one message in response to the campaign of incitement and delegitimization he is waging against Arab citizens: Nothing will come of it, because there is nothing there," Mr Abbas said in a statement.

Qatar denies interference

Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman rejected accusations "made by certain Israeli politicians and their contacts in the media" that his country had interfered in the Israeli elections.

"We categorically deny allegations that Qatar has interfered in Israeli elections or funded any activities intended to influence their outcome," said Majed Al Ansari.

"They accuse Qatar of buying off Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli political left and now, in this latest campaign, the Arab vote... These accusations are ridiculous and dangerous in equal measure."

Mr Netanyahu's bloc on has piled pressure on Israeli Arab leaders over unproven accusations of foreign funding, in a push to neuter parties that could hold the key to forming a government after an inconclusive election.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for an investigation into allegations of fraud but cautioned against stigmatising the entire Arab Israeli community, who voted at unprecedented rates.

Israel was nearing the completion of ballot-counting from Tuesday's election, in which neither Mr Netanyahu nor the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot looked able to secure a majority in the Knesset.

The Netanyahu camp's accusations, which a key Arab party has rejected, could bring uncertainty to the electoral process at a time when the threat of a return to war with Iran looms over the region.

Israel's election saw soaring participation by Israeli Arabs, descendants of Palestinians who stayed after the country's creation in 1948.

Ben Gvir calls for Arab leaders' arrest

Israel's far-right national security minister has called for the arrest of Israeli Arab leaders whose parties made strong gains in this week's election, citing unproven accusations of foreign funding.

Israel's security agency Shin Bet "must order, already this morning, the arrests of the heads of Arab parties suspected of involvement in Qatari money", Itamar Ben Gvir said.

He was pointing to unproven claims made by several ministers that the parties, who could be kingmakers after neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor the opposition bloc secured a majority, took money from Qatar, the energy-rich Gulf powerbroker that has channels to Hamas.

Israelis are continuing to wait for final election results to confirm what they see taking shape, with no majority of parliament seats for Mr Netanyahu and his allies or for the array of parties seeking to unseat him.

Difficult decisions lie in the weeks ahead, including whether some Jewish and Arab parties would team up in a historic alliance, or whether some parties that campaigned on ousting Mr Netanyahu would toss that aside and join forces with the deeply divisive prime minister.

While this plays out, Mr Netanyahu remains in charge.

Final results could come as early as this evening after about 500,000 absentee ballots are counted from military personnel, diplomats, people in prisons and hospitals and others.

They are not expected to sway the results dramatically.

Local media projected 53 parliament seats for Mr Netanyahu's bloc, 48 seats for opposition parties and 19 for Arab-led ones, which also want Mr Netanyahu out.

The chief rival to Mr Netanyahu, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, in his first public statement since an address to supporters early yesterday spoke of a government in service to all and reflecting the will of the people.

Mr Eisenkot did not mention the prospect of joining forces with the Arab-led parties that had a strong showing, as some Arab citizens broke longstanding vows never to vote in a country where they have long faced discrimination.

But he has said he is open to working with them to reach the 61-seat majority needed to control the 120-seat Knesset.

One of those Arab parties, the Joint List, noted the "unprecedented show of strength" and the Jewish voters "willing to swim against the tide of racism". It said it was open to political co-operation.

There were small rallies overnight in Tel Aviv, and in far more conservative Jerusalem, in support of a coalition that includes Arab-led parties.

Until 2021, no Arab party had joined a coalition government, and that was brief.

Mr Netanyahu's Likud party, despite receiving the most votes, has accused Arab-led parties of stealing the election and asked the election committee to investigate.

It did not provide specific evidence to support its claims and the election committee has said the number of reported irregularities in the relatively calm election was low.

Israel's president next week will task someone to form the next government. It has traditionally been the leader of the party with the most votes, but that's not required.

If a new government cannot be formed after multiple attempts, Israel would face a new election early next year.

Yesterday, President Isaac Herzog signalled he wanted to avoid that step - something Mr Eisenkot has said as well.

New elections bring new questions, including whether Arab citizens would again go to the polls in large numbers and whether the tens of thousands of Israelis who flew home to vote would do it again.

Many had said they took that step to save the country from Mr Netanyahu.

Israel, already divided along multiple fault lines - Jews and Arabs, secular and religious - entered the election with huge and painful issues at stake.

Those include whether the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox population should remain exempted from compulsory military service in a country where many families have seen their sons and daughters killed in three years of inconclusive wars.

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Read more:
Israeli elections: What happens next?
Netanyahu's Likud accuses Arab parties of stealing Israeli election
Netanyahu loses his majority, but no one has won it yet

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Mr Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, has been especially polarising, with corruption allegations hanging over him along with accusations that he delayed making deals over the war in Gaza, including to free hostages, for political gain.

While many Israelis voted with security issues first in mind, the country's international standing is also at stake after widespread criticism over the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and growing violence by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.

For Arab citizens, who make up 20% of Israel's population, there is cautious hope of change.

Brosli Elias, a resident of Nazareth, one of Israel's largest Arab cities, said: "God willing, we will have something for us in the government, something that will bring us our rights."

Meanwhile, the threat of further strikes against Iran adds to the election uncertainty, as the Trump administration has spoken of new attacks after the midterm elections on 3 November.

Experts have said Mr Netanyahu could seize on the renewed all-out war to press for a unity government with him in charge.

That could delay what Mr Netanyahu has long resisted - a public inquiry into the security failures that led to the deadliest extremist attack on Israel in the country's history, the Hamas-led assault on 7 October 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza.