Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that “there are serious suspicions” of foreign interference in the elections, after the results became official, and President Isaac Herzog began his consultations to assign a candidate to form a government.
Netanyahu added, in a video clip in which he appeared in front of an Israeli flag and the “Prime Minister’s Office” logo, that “there are serious suspicions that foreign countries spent huge sums of money to influence the election results in Israel,” according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.
The Israeli Elections Commission announced on Wednesday that its audit of the vote conducted last week did not show any violations affecting the integrity of the vote, despite pressure from Netanyahu’s team.
The committee said in a statement: “The audit has been completed. We reviewed all the complaints submitted by the political forces, and we found no indication of any violation of the integrity of the elections.”
In recent days, Netanyahu and his Likud party have repeatedly accused Arab parties in Israel of fraud, after they won a record number of seats in the October 27 vote, which contributed to depriving the prime minister of a majority.
These pressures prompted the Israeli government's judicial advisor, Gali Beharav-Meara, to intervene, on Tuesday evening, in an unusual step, as she demanded the head of the Internal Security Service (Shin Bet), David Zinni, who is close to Netanyahu, to provide any evidence he has to support the forgery accusations.
The Israeli Elections Commission explained, in a statement, that it studied all the appeals submitted by parties or individuals, and examined more than 9,000 ballot boxes, which is an “unprecedented number.”
Thus, the committee announced the conclusion of its audit ahead of consultations conducted by President Herzog to choose the candidate he deems most capable of forming the next government.
It is expected that the consultations will be long and difficult, as neither bloc obtained an absolute majority of 61 seats in the Knesset. Netanyahu's team won 53 seats, while the main opposition bloc, led by centrist politician Gadi Eisenkot, won 48 seats.
The leader of the Israeli opposition bloc, Gadi Eisenkot, pledged on Wednesday to strengthen relations with the United States if he assumed the presidency of the government, stressing that he would work with President Donald Trump to enhance stability in the Middle East.
Eisenkot said, in a statement carried by Agence France-Presse: “Under my leadership, we will renew and deepen this partnership, and strengthen the foundations of bipartisan support on which it has long relied,” adding that he looks forward to working with Trump to “promote our common security interests, consolidate regional stability, and open new horizons of prosperity for the peoples of the Middle East.”
On Wednesday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog began consultations with political parties to form a new government following elections that he said did not result in a clear winner, calling on party leaders to reach a settlement and make concessions, while at the same time condemning the “racist” rhetoric directed against Arabs.
The consultations aim to assign a person to form the new government, after the legislative elections in which the outgoing Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, or his main competitor, Eisenkot, did not obtain a likely majority.
The United Arab List Party, one of the main Arab-Israeli formations, announced on Wednesday that it would recommend to the President of the State to assign Eisenkot to form the next government.
On the eve of her meeting with Herzog, the parliamentary bloc of the United Arab List announced, in a statement, that it “decided to recommend Eisenkot to form the next government.”
Although the position of head of state in Israel remains largely ceremonial, it is up to Herzog to decide who will be given the opportunity to try to form a government, a process that may take weeks or months, and may end in failure and lead to new elections.
Before the consultations began, and given that neither camp obtained a sufficient majority in the Knesset following the October 27 elections, Herzog said that they must accept that “it is not possible to fulfill all commitments and promises,” and strive to avoid holding new elections.
During the elections, and before that during his election campaign, Netanyahu launched an attack on the lists with an Arab majority, which are capable of bringing Eisenkot to power in the event of an alliance between the two parties.
Herzog is scheduled to hold preliminary consultations, on Wednesday and Thursday, and his appointee will have 28 days to form the government, with the possibility of extending the deadline for an additional 14 days.
Netanyahu needed 58 days to form the government following the last elections in November 2022, when the Likud party he leads achieved better results.
The specter of renewed confrontation looms over the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said on Wednesday that it shot down an American drone over Qeshm Island, a day after an American strike on the island.
Attacks on ships in the Strait escalated, while US President Donald Trump reduced the possibility of resuming the war and said that his country may not need to strike Iran.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said on Wednesday that it shot down an American MQ-1 drone over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that its “new advanced air defense system” intercepted and destroyed the drone, and that it was the fifteenth of this model that it shot down, without specifying when the previous drones were shot down.
It was not possible to verify the Iranian story from an independent source, and no American comment was issued on it.
On Monday night, the Revolutionary Guards announced the downing of an American MQ-9 drone east of the Strait of Hormuz.
On Monday and Tuesday night, the United States carried out strikes on Qeshm, which it described as “defensive,” and official Iranian media reported hearing 5 successive explosions on the island.
Trump said on Tuesday: “They built an air defense facility... and as soon as the work was completed on it, we struck it last night,” describing the strike as a “limited attack.”
“It may not be needed.”
After the election results were announced, Trump told Fox News that the war may have contributed to his party's loss. He added: “I think Iran was part of it, but at the same time, people realized the importance of what you did toward Iran.” He told the channel: “I am not looking to kill large numbers of people, but if we have to, we will.”
Trump told the Financial Times on Tuesday that the United States does not intend to strike Iran anytime soon, downplaying speculation that it would escalate after the midterm elections. “We seem to be getting everything we want,” he said.
Asked about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hints of an attack later this week, he said: "I'm ready, we're ready... but there may not be a reason for that."
Trump claimed that the amount of oil crossing the Strait of Hormuz has become greater than it was before the war, and that the American blockade is strangling the Iranian economy. “It's a wonderful situation,” he said. He added: “We are not really in a war... We have not been in an actual war with them for a long time, 6 months, maybe more.”
Trump said that he would not reveal any attack plans in advance, but indirect talks with Iran are continuing regarding its stockpile of enriched uranium, amounting to about a thousand pounds, which he calls “nuclear fallout.” He added: “Even though he is under hundreds of tons of rocks... I am not happy for him to remain there.”
Trump had said earlier this week that he had to “deal” with one or two targets, including Jabal Ax in central Iran, a suspected nuclear site whose existence Tehran denies.
Attacks in the Strait
The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran is resorting to “guerrilla tactics” to disrupt the flow of oil through Hormuz, including booby-trapped underwater drones, rocket-propelled grenades, and limpet mines installed by crews on ship hulls.
The newspaper quoted regional officials, security companies, and analysts that the attacks target ships transporting oil from the Gulf, and aim to increase pressure on the Trump administration in faltering negotiations.
The British Maritime Trade Operations Authority recorded more than 35 incidents in the Strait during October, the highest monthly number since the start of the war. It said at least five ships had been hit so far in November.
The authority said that on Friday, a small boat installed two explosive devices on the hull of a tanker in northern Oman, causing a fire in the engine room and temporarily disabling the ship.
The newspaper explained that Iran has now relied on “human observers” on small boats between fishing boats to monitor ships, instead of coastal radars that have been repeatedly targeted by US strikes.
The Revolutionary Guard says that mines it planted in the strait caused damage to commercial ships, while the US military says that the passage is free of Iranian mines.
Regional officials told the newspaper that since late August, Iran has been using explosive naval drones to attack ships, and Tehran has not acknowledged the nature of these attacks, most likely to suggest that mines are still filling the strait.
The commander of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, said after flying over the strait last week: “I did not see the Revolutionary Guards there at all.”
According to the ship tracking company Kpler, oil flows through the strait averaged about 7.8 million barrels per day in the week ending November 1, or about 45 percent of pre-war levels.
On Tuesday, Brent crude oil was trading at about $102 per barrel, compared to just over $70 before the war.
Chemical weapons warning
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Israel had provided the United States with intelligence information indicating that Iran was considering using chemical weapons against its opponents.
The newspaper quoted American officials as saying that some of them see the information as part of a pressure campaign launched by the Netanyahu government to return Washington to major combat operations. A regional official said that Israel presented the same allegations to countries in the region without evidence, and that their governments found the Israeli assessments “not serious.”
Iran denies possessing chemical weapons, and describes these accusations as psychological warfare waged by Israel.
The newspaper said that the US Central Command has a plan to strike Iran that may begin early, that is, Wednesday, with the presence of 3 aircraft carriers in the region, according to American officials.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday that his government is still seeking to resolve the crisis through dialogue, and that the Supreme Leader has granted it new powers to negotiate issues that were previously prohibited.
Qatar, which is participating in the mediation, said it still hopes to reach an interim agreement.
