Israeli officials say results are valid as Netanyahu says election was ‘stolen’ | Israel Elections 2026 News

The election body says the outcome of the standoff will not be compromised even if the allegations of foreign interference prove true.

The head of Israel’s election commission said the country’s general election results would stand even if allegations of foreign interference were substantiated.

“Our position is that even if the suspicions were founded, it would not undermine the integrity of the electoral process or the results of the elections as a whole,” Central Elections Committee Chairman Noam Sohlberg said Sunday in a video in which he appears with the head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, and the attorney general.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party questioned the results after saying, without providing evidence, that Arab parties, which made significant gains in Tuesday’s elections, had “stolen” votes and accepted funding from Qatar to do so.

Qatar has rejected the allegations, calling them a disinformation campaign.

Also on Sunday, Israeli police released two of three political activists arrested before voting opened on Tuesday. They were carrying envelopes stuffed with cash, allegedly to bribe voters, police said.

One of them was released under unspecified conditions, while another was placed under house arrest.

Police said the suspects were linked to the Arab Raam party, which won eight seats.

Its leader, Mansour Abbas, denounced the arrests as undemocratic and “an attempt to influence the results of the elections”.

“Orchestrated and organized campaign”

Main opposition leader Eisenkot on Sunday accused Netanyahu of launching an “orchestrated and organized campaign to delegitimize the results.”

Eisenkot had previously ruled out forming a coalition with Arab parties, but the impasse in Tuesday’s election means siding with the parties could help him form a government.

Netanyahu’s bloc won 53 seats in Tuesday’s election, while the opposition bloc, led by Gadi Eisenkot, won 48, meaning neither side can form a government in Israel’s 120-seat parliament alone.

Israel’s three Arab-led parties, including the Ra’am party, won a record 19 seats.

A coalition of Arab parties with Eisenkot would provide a comfortable majority of 67 votes in Parliament. However, for many in Israel, the idea of ​​siding with Arab parties is politically unpalatable.

The results are expected to be officially certified this week, after which President Isaac Herzog will nominate a candidate to form a new government.