Netanyahu Cites “Serious Suspicions” of Foreign Interference in Israel’s Elections

Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that “serious suspicions” of foreign interference in the country’s elections exist, even though the results are official and the president has begun consultations to appoint the candidate who will try to form a government. The remarks were made in a video, recorded in front of an Israeli flag and the logo “Prime Minister’s office.”

In the video, Netanyahu said: “There are serious suspicions that foreign states would have invested considerable sums to influence the results of the elections in Israel.” He argued that only a “wide national government” led by Likud could meet the threat that “radical Islamism” poses to Israel. “Radical Islamism is the challenge that is tearing countries in Europe apart today. It is also a threat to us,” he said in a message in Hebrew of just over two and a half minutes. He added that the threat comes “from abroad, through Iran and its allies, and from within, through Islamist parties that support terrorism.”

Netanyahu also referred directly to the Arab parties, which won a record 19 seats in the election. He said a government dependent on “these Islamist parties, which reject the very existence of a Jewish state,” would be unable to face that threat. “There is a government capable of meeting this challenge: a broad national government, led by the Likud under my leadership, that includes all components of the national bloc and all Zionist parties that wish to join,” he said.

On the day of the vote, Netanyahu accused Arab parties of “stealing” the elections. During the week, Likud and representatives of Jewish Power and other parties in his bloc have tried to challenge the results with statements about an alleged fraud or “foreign interference.” According to the report, those claims have been denied by the Central Electoral Commission and by the Police.

The vote gave Likud 27 seats, but Netanyahu’s coalition holds 53 deputies, short of the 61 needed for an absolute majority. The opposition bloc, headed by Gadi Eisenkot of Yashar!, totals 48 seats. Together with the 19 seats of the two Arab formations, the Joint (left) List and the nationalist Raam, that bloc has the figures the article reports.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Spanish)