Deadlock confirmed after final votes are counted in Israeli election

ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief rival, Gadi Eisenkot, have both fallen short of securing a parliamentary majority, Israel’s final election results show, leaving a path to forming a government unclear.

Results released early on Friday showed the pro-Netanyahu bloc winning 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, and 48 seats for Eisenkot’s bloc.

Two Arab-led parties won the remaining 19 seats.

Netanyahu’s party had amplified unsubstantiated allegations that Arab-led parties had “stolen” the election, potentially with foreign assistance.

The opposition accused Netanyahu of demonising the Arab population after a historic showing by Arab-led parties in an attempt to delegitimise the emerging results of the election.

If the rest of the opposition teams up with Arab parties, a rare and politically risky move, they could potentially form a majority government in parliament, the Knesset.

Netanyahu’s party, Likud, has been spreading claims of malfeasance by Arab-led parties since exit polls indicated the prime minister had suffered a setback in Tuesday’s vote.

But it ramped up the rhetoric after the head of Israel’s election committee, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, said that “serious suspicions” of foreign interference had been brought before him.

In a letter to the Shin Bet security agency, Sohlberg said he could not verify the claims.

But given their serious nature, he asked the agency to investigate.

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Netanyahu’s party responded with an inflammatory statement: “The elections in Israel have been stolen!” it said, claiming — without evidence — that the alleged election interference was “aimed at facilitating a foreign takeover of the Knesset, the Islamisation of Israel and toppling of the right wing government”.

Israeli media reported that members of Netanyahu’s party were accusing Qatar — a country that many Israelis view as a patron of Hamas, the Gaza-based militant group.

Qatar issued a quick denial, calling the allegations “ridiculous and dangerous”.

As it announced its results early on Friday, the election commission said the investigation was based on classified intelligence. In a video statement, the commission’s acting director general, Dean Livne, did not elaborate, but warned that reports about the probe had been “entirely unfounded”.

“It does not affect the final results that will be submitted to the president, nor does it concern any particular sector of the population,” he said.

Eisenkot said Likud was trying to delegitimise the results.

“They are doing this because they lost,” he said.

Eisenkot ridiculed the accusation of foreign interference with a tongue-in-cheek statement, saying: “I welcome the fact that Netanyahu is finally condemning Qatari involvement in the State of Israel.”

Netanyahu has long faced accusations that former top aides of his accepted money from Qatar.

By casting doubt on the vote, Netanyahu appeared to be positioning himself to block any potential alliance between his opponents and the Arab parties.

Netanyahu has suggested that it would be treasonous for Eisenkot to join with Arab parties.