Netanyahu's bloc tops Israel's final results but falls short of a majority as Likud claims Arab parties 'stole' the election
Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party has filed witness statements and physical evidence with Israeli police alleging cash-filled envelopes containing Ra'am ballots were distributed to manipulate the vote.
Netanyahu's Likud bloc won 53 seats to Gadi Eisenkot's opposition bloc's 48, with Arab parties claiming a record 19 seats and positioning themselves as potential kingmakers in a deadlocked Knesset. Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, who heads Israel's election committee, wrote to the Shin Bet security service flagging 'serious suspicions' of foreign interference, though he acknowledged the claims were impossible for him to substantiate. Dean Livne, the Central Elections Committee's acting director general, said the allegations of election theft had 'no basis.'
Netanyahu's opponents accused him of smearing Arab voters in order to make any alliance between Eisenkot and those parties untenable — the only realistic route by which that bloc could secure a governing majority.
Qatar's Foreign Ministry 'categorically' denied funding Arab voter turnout drives, calling the accusations 'ridiculous and dangerous' and branding them a disinformation campaign.
Final certified results must be submitted to Israel's president next Wednesday, leaving the coalition arithmetic unresolved and political deadlock deepening.
