Herzog to name coalition builder after final election results

President Yitzhak Herzog has begun the process of selecting the prime minister who will form Israel’s next government.

The Central Elections Committee confirmed the final results of last week’s vote on Wednesday. The committee rejected claims of mass fraud and large-scale foreign interference. A statement from the body noted that the review found no evidence of irregularities that compromised the election’s integrity or affected its results.

Noam Sohlberg, the chair of the committee, said some suspicions remain under investigation. He stated that these lingering questions do not cast doubt on the election as a whole or justify delaying the announcement of results. The committee’s decision strips Binyamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition of its governing majority.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara blocked a demand from the Shin Bet security service to interrogate senior politicians from Palestinian-led parties. Haaretz reported that the Shin Bet sought to target four specific politicians. Baharav-Miara stated that she had not been presented with any evidence of wrongdoing. She added that neither citizens nor elected officials can be interrogated without evidence that justifies doing so. The Shin Bet chief, David Zini, had ordered the interrogations and sought to classify the investigation as a security file. This classification would have allowed harsher conditions, including barring the politicians from having legal counsel.

Gadi Eisenkot, the main challenger to Netanyahu, said the prime minister had launched a pogrom against democracy. He accused Netanyahu of attempting to hold on to power by discrediting valid votes and weaponizing security forces against parties led by Palestinian citizens of Israel. Eisenkot noted that the employees of the Ministry of Defense, law enforcement, and the civil service are servants of the state, not the king. He warned that woe is due to anyone who abuses their authority for political considerations.

Herzog denounced racist attacks on Palestinian citizens who turned out to vote at historic rates. He said he condemned the coarseness and racist expressions heard recently. The president stated that he holds Arab society in Israel in great respect and values its contribution to the country in every area of life. He also noted their desire to integrate.

Herzog is expected to name Eisenkot as the first politician to attempt to create a coalition. The announcement could come as early as Thursday evening. Eisenkot has secured the public support of all Jewish Israeli opposition parties. Palestinian-led parties have said their priority is removing Netanyahu, so they are expected to back him. Eisenkot, a former leader of the Israeli military who lost his son fighting in Gaza, warned that negotiations could take weeks. He also warned of continuing attempts to undermine trust in the election results.