The Arab alliance Joint List, formed by three majority-Arab parties, denounced this Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud would be trying to "undermine" the election results and question their "legitimacy" through accusations of alleged foreign interference and fraud, while at the same time urging the opposition bloc to join forces to remove him from power.
"Enough of apologizing and defending ourselves against vile lies and baseless accusations from sectors of the right that refuse to accept the election results," the coalition said, emphasizing that "these racist accusations only serve to highlight how much they fear the power of our community."
The Joint List denounced the existence of "a coordinated campaign, funded by elements within Likud and which began months ago, aimed at undermining the election results and damaging their legitimacy," according to a statement released on its social media.
The coalition stressed that turnout at the polls was very high and that they obtained an unprecedented result: "We went out to vote in unprecedented numbers and achieved a historic result, both for our community and for the entire democratic camp." The Joint List would have won twelve of the 120 seats in Parliament, to which are added another seven from the Arab party Raam, forming a decisive bloc for a possible government pact.
According to the formation, Likud and its traditional partners have launched a "campaign" to "try to disqualify all Arab parties," and they denounced that during the election day "hundreds of armed far-right activists were sent to the polling stations" with the aim of intimidating voters.
The coalition insisted that "no smear campaign can erase the achievement of the Arab population, and no attempt to sow doubts about the legitimacy of our vote can alter the will of the electorate". "We will not be intimidated, we will not give up and we will not renounce our right to influence the future of this place and the future of all its citizens," it added.
"They wanted us small and weak. Instead, they have found us big and strong," has proclaimed the Joint List, which has demanded that the opposition bloc led by former Army chief Gadi Eisenkot "stop collaborating with Netanyahu’s vile lies and with the racist 'kahanists' --a far-right ideology based on the ideas of Rabbi Meir Kahane--".
Along the same lines, it has asked the opposition to "stop being puppets in Netanyahu’s hands, feeding his campaign of incitement" against the Arab parties, and has maintained that "the excuses have run out" and that "the time has come to show political courage, not only with words, but with deeds".
The Joint List has also underscored its key role in any government alternative: "Without us, victory is impossible, but together with us, it is perfectly possible," it has stated, recalling that a coalition agreement between Eisenkot’s bloc, the Joint List and Raam would make it possible to reach 67 of the 120 seats in the Knesset.
The Likud’s complaints and the 'Ra'amgate'
The Joint List’s statement comes after the Likud denounced early in the day a supposed plot of foreign interference in the Israeli elections, which it has dubbed 'Ra'amgate', and demanded an urgent investigation by the security services and the Police.
Netanyahu’s party has described the case as "an earthquake" and has assured that the elections would have been manipulated, going so far as to speak of "an attack on democracy" and warning that the aim of this alleged operation would be to favor the "Islamization of Israel" and force the prime minister’s fall.
The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, has asked that the allegations be investigated "thoroughly" and has stressed that those involved "must be arrested and held accountable in accordance with the law", while at the same time defending the soundness of the electoral system as the basis of Israeli democracy.
For his part, Gadi Eisenkot has stated that he is in contact with the authorities and that he receives information about the suspicions of interference, while at the same time calling for any accusation to be examined rigorously and for the "purity of the elections" to be safeguarded against possible interference, manipulation or bias.
The provisional results place Likud in first position with 27 seats, followed by the 21 of Eisenkot’s party, Yashar. However, neither of the two blocs reaches on its own the necessary majority, leaving the balance of the future Executive in the hands of the Arab parties or of a possible right-wing alliance that would leave the ultra-Orthodox parties out.