Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei stated that the change of parties in the United States “will not change the hostility” of this country towards Iran. Khamenei said yesterday, commenting on the results of the US midterm elections, that those who hope that “partisan changes” will change US hostility towards Iran are “deeply mistaken.” He warned that the confrontation “will take on much broader dimensions if the attacks are repeated.” He spoke about the “unity of the resistance arenas” from Palestine and Lebanon to Iraq and Yemen.
Senior officials in Iran welcomed the results of the midterm elections, and considered them an American rejection of the war and a defeat for Trump, while Tehran remains on high alert in anticipation of renewed war.
Parliament Speaker Muhammad Baqir Qalibaf said that the Americans said “no to war.”
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.
