Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday began consultations with political parties over who should be tasked with forming a new coalition government, after receiving the official results of a general election that he said produced no clear winner.
Neither the bloc led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor that of his rival Gadi Eisenkot secured a majority in parliament in the 27 October vote. Herzog told party leaders that "not every commitment and promise can be fulfilled" if they wish to avoid sending Israelis back to the polls.
According to the final tally, Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and its far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies won 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Eisenkot's centrist Yashar party and three other Jewish opposition parties in his bloc took 48. Two Arab-led alliances, the United Arab List and the Joint List, won an unprecedented 19 seats combined following a surge in turnout among Arab voters, making them potential kingmakers. However, all but one of the Jewish parties pledged before the election not to work with them in a government.
Herzog was presented with the official results on Wednesday morning by Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg at a ceremony in Jerusalem. "In recent days, we have heard voices trying to cast doubt on the election results and to undermine their legitimacy. This is a real danger," Sohlberg said, adding that a peaceful transfer of power rests on the understanding that the will of the electorate obligates everyone.
Electoral officials said earlier that there was no evidence of irregularities, and that unsubstantiated claims by Netanyahu's camp that Arab-led parties were "stealing" the election did not justify delaying certification of the results. The Shin Bet security service is investigating allegations of foreign interference, though the head of the Central Elections Committee stressed the claims would not fundamentally change the outcome.
Sohlberg told a committee meeting that Shin Bet intelligence appeared to point to a "widespread phenomenon involving the influx of substantial funds into Israel from foreign states", some of them hostile, and that further investigation was needed to determine its scale. Israeli media reported last week that the committee had been presented with a claim that Qatar funded efforts to boost turnout in Arab communities. Qatar's foreign ministry categorically denied the allegation.
Announcing the start of consultations on Wednesday evening, Herzog said: "In order to prevent another round of elections and to build a stable and good government here for the people of Israel, I expect the factions and their representatives to understand that, in the current reality, not every commitment and promise can be fulfilled." He expressed confidence in the Shin Bet investigation and appealed for patience, but warned that Arab Israelis, who make up about a fifth of the population and often identify as Palestinian citizens of Israel, "must not be smeared". "I condemn the coarseness and racist expressions that we have heard recently," he said.
The dispute has sharpened in recent days. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power party and a Netanyahu ally, called on the Shin Bet to arrest all Arab party leaders and interrogate them "until these suspicions are fully clarified". Joint List chairman Yousef Jabareen accused Ben-Gvir and the prime minister of trying to "steal the election from the public".
On Tuesday, Eisenkot alleged that Netanyahu and Likud were "trying to carry out a veritable pogrom against democracy and the rule of law". His remarks followed Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara's rejection of a reported demand by Shin Bet chief David Zini, an appointee of the prime minister, to interrogate four Arab politicians, with Baharav-Miara saying no evidence of wrongdoing had been presented. Likud in turn accused her of trying to "obstruct the investigation and to cover up this serious case of manipulation of the electoral process by foreign actors".
The presidency in Israel is largely ceremonial, but after an election the president invites a Knesset member to form a government. That person receives 28 days, with a possible 14-day extension. The president has wide discretion to choose whoever is judged to have the best chance of building a coalition, and need not pick the leader of the largest party.
