Legislative elections in Israel: Benjamin Netanyahu evokes “serious suspicions” of foreign interference

A vote that sticks in his throat. “There are serious suspicions that foreign states have committed considerable sums to influence the results of the elections in Israel,” said the outgoing Israeli Prime Minister on Wednesday, November 4, without providing evidence or mentioning the impact that these interferences would have had on the outcome of the legislative elections of October 27.

This is the first time that the head of the Israeli government has endorsed the allegations of interference made by his camp, which he had until then been content to relay on his social networks. He spoke in his capacity as Prime Minister, in front of an Israeli flag and a "Prime Minister's Office" logo, while the president, Isaac Herzog, began consultations to form the next government and the electoral authorities validated the result of the vote. The opposition accuses the head of the outgoing government of casting doubt on the results, in an attempt to cling to power.

“No irregularity” noted by the Electoral Commission

The president of the Electoral Commission, Judge Noam Sohlberg, denounced on Wednesday the "real danger" created by those who seek to "cast doubt on the results of the elections". The Electoral Commission had earlier announced that it had carried out extensive checks, which revealed "no irregularities or evidence indicating that the integrity of the elections was compromised or that the results were tampered with".

The elections did not produce a majority, neither for Benjamin Netanyahu's camp, which won 53 seats, nor for the main opposition bloc led by the centrist Gadi Eisenkot, who had 48. A minimum of 61 deputies are needed to control the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. Everything could depend on the decision of the Israeli Arab parties, whose 19 seats could allow Gadi Eisenkot to obtain a comfortable majority in the Knesset. But his bloc has so far refused any formal alliance, in a society traumatized by the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.