Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party have accused Arab-led parties of election impropriety following an Israeli election that left his coalition without a parliamentary majority.
Netanyahu's Likud alleged that voters in Arab communities were "bribed" to support Arab-led parties and accused those parties of "stealing" the election. Israel's Shin Bet security agency is investigating whether the Arab parties received illegal funding from Qatar and Turkey. Qatar's foreign ministry denied the allegations as "ridiculous and dangerous" and accused Israeli politicians of disinformation.
Final results show neither Netanyahu's bloc nor opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot's bloc won a majority in the 120-seat Knesset. The two Arab party lists, The Joint List and Ra'am, won a record 19 seats combined. Netanyahu's bloc secured 53 seats and Eisenkot's bloc 48.
The Shin Bet later clarified that its investigation did not implicate an entire community of legal voters, and the Central Elections Committee acting director general said there was "no basis for allegations of systematic violations of election integrity."
Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of running "an orchestrated and organized campaign to delegitimize the election results." Arab party leaders rejected the allegations. Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh called the accusation "a racist blood libel."
Election results leave three potential paths to government formation. One option is a government led by Eisenkot and supported by Arab parties, though members of his bloc have previously refused such arrangements. A snap poll showed voters from opposition parties favored an Eisenkot-led minority government with Ra'am supported from outside by the Joint List.