Herzog condemns anti-Arab rhetoric after Israeli election

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has condemned what he called racist remarks against the country’s Arab community, as parties prepare for talks on forming a government after an election that left neither of the main blocs with a majority.

Herzog spoke on Wednesday as he received the official results of the 27 October parliamentary election from election committee chairman Noam Sohlberg at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.

“I condemn the coarseness and racist expressions that we have heard recently,” Herzog said, according to an English translation published by The Times of Israel. He warned against generalisations and said Arab society should not be smeared as a result of investigations into election allegations.

Nieuws.nl reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had repeatedly accused Arab parties of electoral fraud. Herzog did not identify which remarks he meant in the reported passages of his speech.

The election committee approved the results after finding no evidence that election integrity had been compromised, according to The Jerusalem Post. The newspaper reported that the Shin Bet security agency is investigating suspicions that foreign entities channelled money into Israel to influence voting in Arab communities.

Netanyahu’s bloc won 53 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, while the opposition bloc won 48. Two Arab parties, Ra’am and the Joint List, won 19 seats between them.

Herzog said there was no clear winner and urged parties to compromise to avoid another election. He is beginning consultations with party representatives before selecting a candidate to try to form a government.