Israel's Election Validated: Herzog Confirms Results Despite Netanyahu Fraud Claims
President Isaac Herzog accepted the certified parliamentary vote on Wednesday, overriding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's repeated accusations of theft and initiating coalition talks.
By Lauren Bello ·
Israeli President Isaac Herzog declared the results of the October 27 parliamentary election legally binding on Wednesday. He confirmed the certified tallies and announced he would begin immediate consultations with party leaders to form a new government.
The ruling directly contradicted the narrative pushed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His religious-nationalist bloc lost its majority in the Knesset, while Arab-led parties achieved historic gains. Netanyahu and his supporters had previously claimed the vote was stolen, potentially with foreign aid, though they offered no substantiation for those claims.
The move followed a formal finding by the country's election commission earlier that day. The body stated it had investigated all fraud claims and found no evidence of irregularities that compromised the election's integrity or altered the outcome.
During a private meeting, the committee head, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, reviewed an intelligence assessment from the Shin Bet. The agency reported a widespread phenomenon of substantial foreign funds entering Israel from hostile states. However, the Shin Bet provided no specific evidence to support this assertion. Sohlberg noted that these were merely suspicions and that their potential impact remained limited even if proven.
"At this stage, these are merely suspicions, and even if they are substantiated, the scope of their potential impact is limited," Sohlberg said while presenting the results to Herzog. He warned that public trust in the process is easy to destroy but very difficult to repair.
Separate friction emerged over a Shin Bet request to interrogate elected officials, including Ra'am party leader Mansour Abbas. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara sharply rejected the proposal, stating it is not permissible to interrogate citizens without justifying evidence. The Joint List of Arab parties called the request a campaign of incitement designed to delegitimize their vote.
Herzog said the Shin Bet probe into foreign interference should continue but cautioned that Arab Israeli voters must not be smeared. He condemned recent coarseness and racist expressions. The president is expected to hold sit-downs with political parties over the next several days. He will then select a candidate, likely Netanyahu or opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot, who can form a coalition. If neither succeeds, Israel will hold a new election early next year.
Far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir rejected the committee's findings and called on the Shin Bet to arrest Arab party leaders for interrogation. Netanyahu's Likud party did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
