JERUSALEM, November 2 (Aalimi Nation) – Israel's election authorities said on Sunday that the results of last week's parliamentary vote will stand, even if suspicions of foreign interference raised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party were to be substantiated. The statement came as the Israel election results dispute deepened, with Likud claiming, without presenting evidence, that the vote was "stolen".

Noam Sohlberg, a Supreme Court justice who heads the Central Elections Committee, made the remarks in a video appearance alongside the head of the Shin Bet security agency and the attorney general. "Even if the suspicions are substantiated, this would not undermine the integrity of the electoral process or the election results as a whole," he said.

The Knesset election was held on Tuesday, October 27. With counting complete, Netanyahu's bloc won 53 of the 120 seats, short of the 61 needed for a majority. The opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot won 48 seats, while three Arab-led parties together secured a record 19. The results are due to be certified and submitted to President Isaac Herzog later this week, after which he will nominate a candidate to try to form a government.

Likud said Arab-led parties "stole" the vote and accepted funding from Qatar, without offering evidence. Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Majed Al Ansari, rejected the allegations as "ridiculous and dangerous" and accused Israeli politicians of using his country as a scapegoat.

Sohlberg earlier wrote to the Shin Bet asking it to establish whether "serious suspicions" of foreign interference could be substantiated or refuted, with findings expected within about a week. The election committee's acting director-general, Dean Livne, said the inquiry rests on classified intelligence and does not affect the final results, adding that it had no basis for claims of systematic harm to the integrity of the election. The Shin Bet said its probe was narrow and was not intended to cast suspicion on an entire population group.

Separately, police arrested three political activists before polling opened on Tuesday, accusing them of carrying envelopes of cash to bribe voters. Two were released on Sunday, one on unspecified conditions and the other placed under house arrest. Police said the suspects were linked to the Ra'am party, which won eight seats. Ra'am leader Mansour Abbas called the arrests undemocratic and "an attempt to influence the election results".

Eisenkot accused Netanyahu of running an "orchestrated and organised campaign to delegitimise the results". President Herzog called for a thorough investigation but warned against casting suspicion on Arab voters as a group.

Officials have said even substantiated claims would not point to widespread fraud, and no Israeli election has ever been overturned. The arithmetic leaves coalition options narrow. Eisenkot had earlier ruled out sitting with Arab parties, but a government that included them would command about 67 seats. Netanyahu has suggested such a step would be improper. If no government can be formed after repeated attempts, Israel would head to a fresh election early next year, an outcome both Herzog and Eisenkot have said they want to avoid.