Netanyahu Party Claims Election Stolen 10/30 06:12

   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party on Thursday amplified 
unsubstantiated allegations that Arab-led parties had "stolen" the election, 
potentially with foreign assistance, as final results showed his bloc had lost 
its majority in parliament.

   JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party on 
Thursday amplified unsubstantiated allegations that Arab-led parties had 
"stolen" the election, potentially with foreign assistance, as final results 
showed his 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 early Friday 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. His main opposition won 48 
seats and Arab-led parties secured the other 19.

   The count is complete, but the results still need to be certified and 
submitted to the country's president next Wednesday.

   Commission to look into possible foreign interference 

   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."

   As it announced its results early Friday, the election commission said the 
investigation was based on classified intelligence. In a video statement, the 
commission's acting director general, Dean Livne, did not elaborate, but warned 
that reports about the probe had been "entirely unfounded."

   "It does not affect the final results that will be submitted to the 
president, nor does it concern any particular sector of the population," he 
said.

   Netanyahu's opponents accuse him of undermining vote 

   Netanyahu's main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, said Likud was 
trying to delegitimize the results. "They are doing this because they lost," he 
said.

   Eisenkot ridiculed the accusation of foreign interference with a 
tongue-in-cheek statement, saying: "I welcome the fact that Netanyahu is 
finally condemning Qatari involvement in the State of Israel."

   Netanyahu has long faced accusations that former top aides of his accepted 
money from Qatar.

   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, who 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 a week.

   Netanyahu campaigned on anti-Arab sentiment 

   Even ahead of the vote, Netanyahu and Likud painted the Arab-led parties as 
a danger to Israel, which critics called an attempt to further marginalize Arab 
citizens. Arab citizens of Palestinian descent make up 20% of the population 
but are often viewed with suspicion because of their sympathies with other 
Palestinians.

   Those campaign attacks, along with anger over the divisive Netanyahu and his 
far-right government, brought outraged Arabs to the polls like never before.

   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.

   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."

   Difficult decisions are ahead as parties seek coalitions 

   The developments amplified the difficult decisions for the weeks ahead. 
Those include whether some Jewish and Arab parties would team up in a historic 
alliance, or whether some parties that campaigned on ousting Netanyahu would 
toss that aside and join forces with him.

   While the race for a 61-seat majority needed to control the 120-seat Knesset 
plays out, Netanyahu remains in charge.

   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 Oct. 7, 
2023, attack.

   Eisenkot has left door open to cooperation with Arab-led parties 

   Even without a role in a coalition, Arab-led parties could assert their 
growing power by supporting other Netanyahu opponents in the next parliament. 
That could include electing a new speaker, giving them control of the agenda 
and potentially allowing them to advance and pass legislation before a new 
government is formed.

   Eisenkot has indicated he is open, with conditions, to joining forces with 
the Arab-led parties. Ahmad Tibi, second on the Arab-led Joint List, told Army 
Radio the opposition bloc reached out to him to discuss replacing the Knesset 
speaker, and he told them the party would support the bloc's candidate.

   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.

   If a new government cannot be formed after multiple attempts, Israel would 
face a new election early next year. On Wednesday, Herzog signaled he wanted to 
avoid that step - something 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 Netanyahu.