Consultations on the new government in Israel are starting. The president is asking for ingenuity

The president condemned "racist statements" against the Arab minority after the October 27 elections. He emphasized that he had full confidence in the services investigating suspicions of foreign interference in the elections, but stressed that the investigation must not lead to denigration of the entire community.

According to Israeli media, Solberg and the head of the Shin Bet, David Zini, believe that the elections were conducted properly, and although the investigation should continue, the scale of the suspected interference was too small to influence the result of the vote.

A different start than usual

Consultations will begin on Wednesday afternoon, the president's office announced. Herzog will meet with all parties elected to the Knesset, unusually starting with the smallest parties. This is to enable consideration of various coalition variants before talks with the largest parties. Neither of the two main political blocs won a majority in the Knesset.

After consultations, the president will entrust the mission of forming a government to a selected parliamentarian. He will have a maximum of 42 days to do so.

Herzog appealed to the party to compromise and abandon some of its election promises to avoid another vote. In a situation where the elections did not produce a clear winner, I am asking for ingenuity, courage and good will to ensure that Israel becomes the winner, he said.