Netanyahu accuses Arab parties after historic result
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on L’essentiel
Benjamin Netanyahu’s camp accuses Israel’s Arab parties of receiving funds from Qatar after their historic performance in the legislative elections. With more than 90% of votes counted, the lists could give the opposition a majority, reports L’essentiel, while Doha rejects the accusations.
The camp of outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Arab parties Raam and the United List on Thursday of receiving funding from Qatar, after their strongest-ever showing in legislative elections. The two lists could enable the opposition to reach a majority in the Knesset, according to results covering more than 90% of the vote.
Netanyahu’s bloc is ahead of the centrist opposition led by Gadi Eisenkot, but does not by itself have the seats needed for an absolute majority. The Arab parties are therefore in a position to influence the formation of the next government. Mansour Abbas, Raam’s leader, rejected the accusations, while Doha denounced the allegations as “as ridiculous as they are dangerous”.
The head of the Electoral Commission, Noam Sohlberg, asked Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence service, to investigate suspicions of foreign funding. President Isaac Herzog called for the claims to be verified without discrediting the Arab community as a whole.
The accusations prolong the uncertainty created by a Knesset without a majority, after the results published on 27 October and the tie announced between Gadi Eisenkot and Benjamin Netanyahu in polls on 28 October. The Netanyahou bloc lost its majority while retaining a possibility of forming the next government.
