Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday alleged that the general election was "stolen" by Arab parties, accusing them of voter fraud, bribery, threats and violence as vote counting continued.
Netanyahu's Likud party called for criminal investigations into alleged irregularities at Arab polling stations. In a statement posted on X, Likud accused Arab parties of attempting to undermine the election through alleged criminal activities.
"Likud: The elections in the State of Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state through serious criminal offenses of bribery, threats, violence, forgeries, and the use of prohibited software to mobilize voters," the post read.
The party said it was submitting evidence to the police, the Shin Bet and the Central Elections Committee.
"The Likud party is transferring to the police, the Shin Bet, and the Central Elections Committee hundreds of testimonies and pieces of evidence regarding election theft in many Arab polling stations—thousands of envelopes with cash and Ra'am slips, threats and violence against polling station members, multiple voting behind the curtain, voting with double identities, discrepancies between the number of envelopes and the number of voters, the use of prohibited mobilization software, and more," the post read.
"We demand from the police and the Shin Bet a thorough investigation into the election theft by the Arab parties and the full prosecution of the criminals," the post said.
It also urged the Central Elections Committee to investigate the alleged offences before the results were finalised.
"We demand from the Central Elections Committee an immediate response to investigate these criminal offences that have severely damaged the integrity of the elections in Israel and the election results," the statement said.
"This is a serious blow to Israeli democracy and the voting rights of Israeli citizens. The law enforcement agencies must act with an iron fist and in an immediate manner," it added.
The allegations are claims made by the Likud party, the material provided does not establish whether the alleged irregularities occurred.
The allegations came as Yousef Jabareen, chairman of Israel’s Arab-majority Joint List alliance, said his party was ready to help remove Netanyahu from power, calling for a Jewish-Arab political partnership.
"We are ready and prepared to pave the way for the ousting of the Netanyahu government," Jabareen said in a statement posted on X.
"Against a government of bloodshed, against a politics of supremacy, racism, and exclusion, we offer a completely different alternative," he added.
He said political change should be based on cooperation between Jewish and Arab communities. "The change comes through Jewish-Arab partnership, a true and equal partnership," Jabareen said. "No less than that, and no more than that."
His remarks followed Netanyahu's rejection of any government that depends on Arab-led parliamentary parties, which he described as a threat to Israel's existence.
Addressing supporters at Likud's election headquarters as initial results came in, Netanyahu claimed that the broader right-wing bloc had a clear majority among Jewish voters and those who support the Jewish state.
"And the second thing that became clear—and with this too, they engineered consciousness; it won't help them—the second thing that became clear is that the right-wing bloc has a clear, decisive majority among the Zionist public, among the Jewish public, and all those who support the Jewish state," Netanyahu said. "That is what became clear. A decisive majority."
"And therefore I said, and I say again, that we must establish a strong, right-wing national government," Netanyahu said.
"It is forbidden—simply forbidden—to endanger Israel and establish a government that relies on anti-Zionist Arab parties. Parties that oppose our very existence, that view Hamas as a charity organisation, and that call our soldiers war criminals," he added.
Netanyahu also criticised political rivals who were considering cooperation with Arab parties. Responding to chants of "Shame!" from the crowd, he questioned the legitimacy of such alliances.
"Indeed, that is a shame," Netanyahu said.
"And I ask: What have we come to? What have we come to when politicians and media outlets talk about this, normalise it, justify it? How can you speak of an 'alliance of those who serve' when you join hands with those who attack our servers—IDF soldiers? Those who not only do not serve the state, but serve the enemies of the state. That is precisely what we have here. This is the Islamic Movement, this is the Joint List, this is Balad—these are anti-Zionist parties that advocate the destruction of the state. You speak of an alliance of those who serve with them? That is a disgrace and a scandal!" he added.
The election race remained closely contested, with exit polls offering different projections for the distribution of seats in the Knesset.
Direct Polls projected 55 seats for Netanyahu's bloc, 49 for the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot and 16 for Arab parties, ANI reported.
In its updated exit poll, Israeli public broadcaster Kan 11 projected 51 seats each for the pro-Netanyahu and anti-Netanyahu blocs. Its earlier poll, released at 11:04 pm local time, had projected 50 seats for Netanyahu's bloc and 52 for the opposition bloc, according to The Times of Israel.
A separate poll by Filber, presented by Channel 14, projected 60 seats for Netanyahu's bloc, 43 for the opposition and 17 for Arab parties.
The latest projections also showed Netanyahu's Likud party rising to 27 seats from 25. The left-wing alliance The Democrats was projected to win nine seats, down from 10, while the far-right Otzma Yehudit party was projected to secure six seats, down from seven.