JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli President Isaac Herzog accepted on Wednesday as legally binding the certified results of last week’s legislative elections and said he would begin consultations with party representatives on the formation of a new government.
Herzog’s acceptance of the validity of the results dealt a blow to the Prime Minister That of Benjamin Netanyahu effort to discredit the vote in which his religious-nationalist bloc lost his majority in the Israeli parliamentor Knesset, while the Arab-led parties did historic gains.
Netanyahu and his supporters have repeatedly unsubstantiated allegations that Arab-led parties had “stolen” the elections, perhaps with foreign aid.
The Israeli president must now sit down with various party leaders to determine who to appoint as prime minister-designate – a process that could potentially bring Netanyahu’s opponents to power.
No fraud in Israeli elections, commission says
Israel’s election commission said Wednesday that after a thorough investigation into allegations of fraud by all parties, it found “no evidence of irregularities that would have compromised the integrity of the election or affected its results.”
Netanyahu’s Likud party did not respond to a request for comment.
A separate investigation by the Shin Bet intelligence service, led by Netanyahu appointee and loyalist David Zini, into allegations of foreign interference in the election is still underway.
At a private meeting Wednesday of election committee members, its chairman, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, read a Shin Bet intelligence assessment saying the agency believed there had been a “widespread phenomenon involving the influx of substantial funds into Israel from foreign states,” including from countries hostile to Israel.
The Shin Bet has not provided any evidence to explain its claim. The Associated Press obtained a transcript of the assessment from a person who attended the meeting. The person requested anonymity to discuss a closed-door meeting.
The commission has previously said that while allegations that foreign actors sought to influence the elections are serious and are being investigated, it does not believe any such interference affected the results – even if it had happened.
Sohlberg reiterated this position on Wednesday. “At this stage, these are only suspicions, and even if they are founded, the scope of their potential impact is limited,” he said during a ceremony to present the certified election results to Herzog.
He added that it was dangerous to doubt the results and said they were legally binding.
Public trust in the electoral process is “easy to destroy, but very difficult to restore,” he warned.
What’s next for Herzog
During the October 27 vote, neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor that of his main rival’s allies, opposition leader Gadi Eisenkotobtained the necessary parliamentary majority form a new governmentraising the possibility of an alliance between the two rivals or an alliance between Eisenkot and certain Arab-led parties.
The Israeli president is now expected to begin a series of meetings with political parties. The meetings are expected to take place over the next few days.
Herzog will then have to choose the candidate – most likely Netanyahu or Eisenkot – who he believes will be most likely to form a coalition government, setting the stage for weeks of negotiations.
If neither man manages to form a government, the country will hold new elections early next year.
Israeli intelligence request for separate interrogations rejected
The Shin Bet on Tuesday requested permission from Israel’s attorney general to question several elected officials as part of a separate agency investigation, including Mansour Abbas, leader of the Raam party and other senior Arab lawmakers, Israeli media reported.
The request was categorically rejected.
“It is not permitted to question citizens or elected officials without evidence justifying such action,” said Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
The Joint List condemned the demand, calling it an “incitement campaign” by Netanyahu and his allies aimed at delegitimizing the Arab vote.
A far-right ally of Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir, rejected the commission’s findings that the elections were valid.
He called on the Shin Bet, over which it has no jurisdiction, to “arrest all leaders of Arab political parties” and interrogate them in “basement interrogation cells until these suspicions are fully clarified.”
Herzog said Wednesday that the Shin Bet investigation into possible foreign interference should take place. But he warned that Arab Israeli voters “must not be vilified.”
“I condemn the crude and racist remarks we have heard recently,” Herzog said.
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Melzer reported from Nahariya, Israel.
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