Tel Aviv – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party alleged Thursday that Israel’s elections earlier in the week were stolen by Arab-majority parties, aided by foreign funding that amounted to vote buying, as final results showed Netanyahu’s bloc has lost its majority in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. Israel’s Arab-majority parties had their biggest turnout in Tuesday’s elections, winning an unprecedented 19 of the Knesset votes. 120 seats. Its success is one of the main reasons Netanyahu’s bloc lost its majority and is now unable to form a new government. Final election results show that the far-right bloc’s share of Knesset seats fell from 68 to 53. Israel’s Arab minority, also called Palestinian citizens of Israel, makes up about 20% of the country’s population. “Israel’s elections have been stolen,” Netanyahu’s Likud party declared in a statement Thursday, alleging “an attack on democracy intended to lead to a foreign takeover of the Knesset, the Islamization of Israel and the overthrow of the right-wing government causing the withdrawal and defeat of the IDF (Israeli military) on all fronts, first and foremost, Iran.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to supporters after polls close in a national parliamentary election, at the Likud party headquarters in Jerusalem, Israel, on October 28, 2026. Amnon Gutman/Bloomberg/Getty The four parties that make up the main bloc opposing Netanyahu won 48 seats, so they would need some support from Arab parties to try to form a coalition government, assuming none of the lawmakers currently aligned with Netanyahu’s bloc fail. The heads of Israel’s two largest Arab parties, which together won. 19 seats, have said they would be willing to help the main opposition bloc oust Netanyahu from power. However, most of the Jewish-led parties opposing Netanyahu promised before the election not to rely on the support of Arab parties to form a government, leaving a question mark over whether they might now be willing to cooperate to build a coalition to oust the incumbent prime minister. Israel said it had opened an investigation into possible foreign influence in the elections, but the scope of that investigation has not been made clear. “An investigation of this type is also focused and delimited, and does not defame or blame an entire sector that came out to vote democratically and legally,” the agency said in a statement on Thursday. Israelis said one of the allegations the Shin Bet investigation would consider was whether Qatar had sent money to Arab parties to increase turnout among Israeli Arab voters. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has denied the allegation. “We categorically deny allegations that Qatar interfered in the Israeli elections or financed any activity aimed at influencing its outcome,” ministry spokesman Majid Al-Ansari said. “Qatar should not be used as a scapegoat for Israel’s political failures. certain Israeli politicians.” “An inappropriate influence operation?” While the vote count is now officially complete, the election results still must be certified and sent to President Issac Herzog before a new parliament can be sworn in and begin the process of forming a new government. Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the centrist Yashar party and leading candidate to replace Netanyahu as prime minister, said he was concerned that Netanyahu could be using the accusation of a stolen election to justify delaying or disqualifying “Netanyahu, who has become accustomed to dealing with reality through lies, consciousness engineering and the spread of chaos, is leading together with his associates an undue influence operation on the Israeli public aimed at delaying the release of election results on time and creating a fictitious delegitimization of the activity of the 26th Knesset,” Eisenkot said Thursday in a social media post. Eisenkot, gestures as he addresses supporters at an election night rally in Tel Aviv, Israel, in the early hours of October 28, 2026. Tomer Neuberg/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Once the new Knesset is sworn in, even without a new government having been decided, Eisenkot’s bloc, along with Arab parties, could begin passing laws since they will control a majority in parliament.Netanyahu, a who President Trump enthusiastically endorsed, will remain in his position as interim prime minister until a new government is formed. If the parties cannot negotiate to form a new coalition government, then the country would have to hold elections again and Netanyahu would remain prime minister in the meantime.
