OMM Newsroom
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that there were “serious suspicions” of foreign countries spending large sums to influence last week’s parliamentary election, hours after the Central Elections Committee certified the results. Anadolu Agency reported the remarks.
In a recorded statement cited by the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, Netanyahu said foreign countries may have intervened “with enormous sums of money” to influence the election in Israel. He did not identify any countries or present evidence to support the allegation.
Netanyahu said Central Elections Committee Chairman Noam Sohlberg had instructed the Shin Bet domestic security agency to investigate. He called for any obstacles to the inquiry to be removed, saying: “We must get to the full truth, without a cover-up and without delay.”
The election committee said earlier Wednesday that it had found no irregularities indicating that the vote’s integrity had been compromised or the results altered. Separately, the Shin Bet told the committee it needed to investigate further to establish the scale of the suspected foreign funding and influence efforts.
Netanyahu renewed his call for a broad government under his leadership, including all parties in his bloc and any Zionist parties willing to join. He accused opposition leaders of seeking to form a minority government reliant on “Islamist parties,” which he alleged “support terrorism.”
His remarks came as President Isaac Herzog began consultations with parliamentary factions on whom to task with forming the next government.
Netanyahu’s bloc won 53 seats in the Oct. 27 election, while opposition parties aligned with Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot won 48. The Joint List and Ra’am, also known as the United Arab List, won 19 seats. Neither of the two main blocs secured the 61 seats required for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.
During Wednesday’s consultations, Religious Zionism and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party recommended Netanyahu, while Yisrael Beiteinu backed Eisenkot, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. Ra’am decided to recommend Eisenkot before its meeting with Herzog on Thursday.
