Israelis await final election results as claim of foreign interference
emerges
[October 29, 2026]
By CARA ANNA and KORAL SAEED
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israelis on Thursday waited for final election results
to confirm what they see taking shape: No majority of parliament seats
for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, or for the array
of parties seeking to unseat him.
Adding to the uncertainty, the head of the Central Elections Committee
asked the Shin Bet intelligence service to investigate alleged foreign
interference. The letter dated Wednesday noted alleged funding by
“foreign entities against the Israeli interest,” without specifics, and
could not speak to the validity of the claims. It was not clear who made
them. It requested findings within the week. Israeli law requires
election results to be certified by Nov. 4.
Netanyahu swiftly seized on the request to the Shin Bet. Chief rival
Gadi Eisenkot said the integrity of the elections must be guarded, but
warned that political actors should not “exploit the situation" to
influence the timing of the swearing-in of the next parliament, set for
Nov. 10.
The allegation amplified the difficult decisions for the weeks ahead.
Those include whether some Jewish and Arab parties would team up in a
historic alliance, or whether some parties that campaigned on ousting
Netanyahu would toss that aside and join forces with the deeply divisive
prime minister.
While this plays out, Netanyahu remains in charge.
Final results could come as early as Thursday evening after about a
half-million absentee ballots are counted from military personnel,
diplomats, people in prisons and hospitals, and others. They are not
expected to sway the results dramatically.
Local media projected 53 parliament seats for Netanyahu's bloc, 48 seats
for opposition parties and 19 for Arab-led ones, which also want
Netanyahu out.
Netanyahu's Likud targets Arab-led parties
Netanyahu's Likud, despite receiving the most votes, earlier accused
Arab-led parties of stealing the election and asked the election
committee to investigate. It did not provide specific evidence to
support its claims. The election committee has said the number of
reported irregularities in the relatively calm election was low.
Even without a role in a coalition, Arab-led parties could assert their
growing power by supporting other Netanyahu opponents in the next
parliament, the Knesset. That could include electing a new speaker,
giving them control of the agenda and potentially allowing them to
advance and pass legislation before a new government is formed.
Netanyahu's chief rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, in his
first public statement since an address to supporters early Wednesday
spoke of a government in service to all and reflecting the will of the
people.
Eisenkot did not mention the prospect of joining forces with the
Arab-led parties that had a strong showing, as some Arab citizens broke
longstanding vows never to vote in a country where they have long faced
discrimination. But he has said he is open to working with them to reach
the 61-seat majority needed to control the 120-seat Knesset.
Ahmad Tibi, head of the Arab-led Joint List, told Army Radio he’s heard
from the opposition bloc to discuss replacing the Knesset speaker, and
he told them the party would support the bloc’s candidate. He also urged
Eisenkot to have political courage.
The Joint List has noted the “unprecedented show of strength" by Arab
voters and the Jewish voters “willing to swim against the tide of
racism.”
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People walk next to a Likud party campaign ad featuring Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump,
with a Hebrew message reading "We have one opportunity to win," in
Jerusalem on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, a day after the elections in
Israel. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
There were small rallies overnight in Tel Aviv, and in far more
conservative Jerusalem, in support of a coalition that includes
Arab-led parties. Until 2021, no Arab party had joined a coalition
government, and that was brief.
Israel’s president next week will task someone with forming the next
government. It has traditionally been the leader of the party with
the most votes, but that’s not required.
If a new government cannot be formed after multiple attempts, Israel
would face a new election early next year. On Wednesday, President
Isaac Herzog signaled he wanted to avoid that step – something
Eisenkot has said as well.
New elections bring new questions, including whether Arab citizens
would again go to the polls in large numbers and whether the tens of
thousands of Israelis who flew home to vote would do it again. Many
had said they took that step to save the country from Netanyahu.
A deeply divided Israel might see Netanyahu stay on
Israel, already divided along multiple fault lines – Jews and Arabs,
secular and religious – entered the election with huge and painful
issues at stake.
Those include whether the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox population
should remain exempted from compulsory military service in a country
where many families have seen their sons and daughters killed in
three years of inconclusive wars.
Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, has been
especially polarizing, with corruption allegations hanging over him
along with accusations that he delayed making deals over the war in
Gaza, including to free hostages, for political gain.
While many Israelis voted with security issues first in mind, the
country’s international standing is also at stake after widespread
criticism over the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and growing
violence by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.
For Arab citizens, who make up 20% of Israel’s population, there is
cautious hope of change. “God willing, we will have something for us
in the government, something that will bring us our rights,” said
Brosli Elias, a resident of Nazareth, one of Israel’s largest Arab
cities.
Meanwhile, the threat of further strikes against Iran adds to the
election uncertainty, as the Trump administration has spoken of new
attacks after the midterm elections on Nov. 3. Experts have said
Netanyahu could seize on a renewed all-out war to press for a unity
government with him in charge.
That could delay what Netanyahu has long resisted: a public inquiry
into the security failures that led to the deadliest extremist
attack on Israel in the country’s history, the Hamas-led assault on
Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza.
___
Saeed reported from Abu Snan. Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg
in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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