Netanyahu alleges foreign money sought to sway Israeli vote
The election committee found no irregularities, while a Shin Bet probe into suspected foreign funding of the vote is now under way.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday alleged that foreign countries had spent huge sums to sway Israel's recent election, Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reported.
He made the claim in a recorded statement, which the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth cited, but he did not name any countries or present evidence.
Netanyahu said Central Elections Committee Chairman Noam Sohlberg had asked the Shin Bet domestic security agency to investigate and that any obstacles to the probe should be removed.
He added that the full truth must be established quickly and without any attempt to conceal it.
Earlier on Wednesday, the election committee said it had found no irregularities that compromised the vote or altered its results, while the Shin Bet told the committee it needed more time to determine the scale of suspected foreign funding and influence efforts.
Results from the Oct. 27 vote gave Netanyahu's bloc 53 seats and opposition parties aligned with Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot 48, while the Joint List and Ra'am won 19, leaving both main blocs short of the 61 seats needed in the 120-seat Knesset.
Netanyahu also renewed his call for a broad government under his leadership that would include all parties in his bloc and any Zionist parties willing to join, and accused opposition leaders of seeking a minority government reliant on Islamist parties, which he said support terrorism.
His remarks came as President Isaac Herzog began consultations with parliamentary factions on who should be tasked with forming the next government, during which Religious Zionism and the Shas party recommended Netanyahu while Yisrael Beiteinu backed Eisenkot, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
