Israel’s main opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot and Arab-led party chiefs have denounced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims of foreign interference after the election in which his coalition lost its majority, the BBC reports.

Netanyahu’s Likud accused Arab-led parties of “stealing” the election. The Shin Bet is investigating whether they received illegal funding from Qatar and Turkey. Qatar’s foreign ministry rejected the “ridiculous and dangerous” allegations and accused Israeli politicians of a disinformation campaign against Doha.

Final results confirm that neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor the Jewish opposition won a Knesset majority. The two Arab lists — the Joint List and Ra’am — won a record 19 of 120 seats after a surge in Arab turnout. Netanyahu’s bloc has 53 seats; Eisenkot’s has 48.

On Thursday Likud alleged voters had been “bribed” to back Arab parties after the Central Elections Committee (CEC) head asked Shin Bet to probe “serious suspicions” of foreign interference. Both Arab parties strongly rejected the claim.

Critics see the row as an attempt to delegitimise Arab parties and make it politically impossible for Eisenkot to work with them — currently his bloc’s only path to power. Shin Bet later clarified that the probe does not implicate an entire community that voted legally, and acting CEC director-general Dean Livne said there was “no basis for allegations of systematic violations of election integrity.”

Eisenkot, briefed on the inquiry, said “it is too early to determine what happened, or if anything happened at all,” and accused Netanyahu of “an orchestrated and organized campaign to delegitimize the election results.” Joint List’s Sami Abu Shehadeh called it a “racist blood libel” aimed at overturning the result. Plausible government paths remain: Netanyahu–Eisenkot unity, a right-wing coalition with defectors from Eisenkot’s bloc, or an Eisenkot-led cabinet backed by Arab parties.

Source: Israeli opposition accuses Netanyahu of trying to 'delegitimise' election | BBC