Israel’s President Declares Election Results Legally Binding

Israeli President Isaac Herzog declared the certified results of last week’s parliamentary elections legally binding on Wednesday. His decision counters Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s repeated claims that the vote was compromised. Herzog said he will begin consultations with party leaders to form a new government.

The move undermines Netanyahu’s effort to discredit the Oct. 27 vote. His religious-nationalist bloc lost its majority in the Knesset. Arab-led parties secured historic gains in that election.

Israel’s election commission issued a statement earlier on Wednesday confirming the validity of the results. The commission stated that a thorough investigation found no evidence of irregularities that compromised the election’s integrity or affected the outcome. Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, who heads the committee, presented the certified results to Herzog.

Sohlberg noted that the Shin Bet intelligence service believes there is a widespread phenomenon involving substantial funds from foreign states. He described these as suspicions at the current stage. Sohlberg warned that public trust in the electoral process is easy to destroy but difficult to repair. He emphasized that the results are legally binding even if the suspicions are later substantiated.

Netanyahu and his supporters have claimed that Arab-led parties stole the election, possibly with foreign assistance. The Likud party did not respond to a request for comment regarding the president’s decision. A separate Shin Bet investigation into allegations of foreign interference remains ongoing. The agency is headed by David Zini, a Netanyahu appointee.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara rejected a Shin Bet request to interrogate elected officials. She said it is not permissible to interrogate citizens or officials without evidence to justify the action. The Joint List of Arab parties condemned the request as a campaign of incitement designed to delegitimize the Arab vote.

Herzog said the Shin Bet investigation should proceed but cautioned that Arab Israeli voters must not be smeared. He condemned the coarseness and racist expressions heard recently. He will now hold a series of meetings with political parties over the next several days.

Neither Netanyahu’s bloc nor the bloc of opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot secured a parliamentary majority. Herzog must choose a candidate he believes can form a coalition government. If neither man succeeds, Israel will hold a new election early next year.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right ally of Netanyahu, rejected the committee’s findings. He called on the Shin Bet to arrest the leaders of Arab political parties. Ben-Gvir said they should be interrogated in basement cells until suspicions are clarified, despite having no jurisdiction over the agency.