Jerusalem (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc on Thursday piled pressure on Arab-Israeli leaders over unproven accusations of foreign funding, in a push to neuter parties that could hold the key to forming a government after an inconclusive election.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who holds a largely ceremonial role, called for an investigation into allegations but cautioned against stigmatising the entire Arab-Israeli community, who voted at unprecedented rates.

Israel was nearing the completion of ballot counting from Tuesday’s election, the first since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks, with neither Netanyahu nor the opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot appearing able to secure a majority.

The Netanyahu camp’s accusations, denied by both Arab-majority lists, could bring new uncertainty into the electoral process at a time when the threat of a new Israeli and US attack on Iran looms over the region.

The election saw soaring participation by Arab-Israelis, descendants of Palestinians who stayed after the country’s creation in 1948, as outrage boiled at calls by officials such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to treat their community much as Israel has dealt with Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Following Netanyahu’s accusations, Ben Gvir went so far as to encourage Israel to “immediately” order the arrests of Arab party leaders.

The Arab parties together have enough votes to take the opposition bloc over the finish line, but Eisenkot has baulked after relentless attacks by Netanyahu, who warned his right-wing Jewish base that voting for the opposition would put Arabs in power.

- ‘Political earthquake’ -

Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, a conservative who heads the Central Elections Committee, requested an investigation by the Shin Bet security service into allegations that the Arab grouping Raam received money from Qatar, the energy-rich Gulf powerbroker that has channels to Hamas.

“The Raamgate scandal is a political earthquake. Israel’s elections have been stolen!” Netanyahu’s Likud party said.

Raam chief Mansour Abbas said his party had “no connection whatsoever to the affair”, and welcomed an investigation.

The Joint List, which unites three Arab-majority parties, accused Netanyahu and his allies of a “campaign of incitement” that “exposes their fear” of Arab citizens’ political strength.

Government officials did not offer evidence to back the allegations, and left-wing candidate Yair Golan accused Netanyahu of attempting to stir controversy after failing to get a majority.

“He is trying to challenge the election results,” Golan said.

Netanyahu himself has long been under the cloud of allegations related to Qatar after the arrests last year of two of his aides for allegedly receiving payments from the Gulf state.

Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari called the latest accusations “ridiculous and dangerous”.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, for years tacitly supported Qatar funding for Hamas-ruled Gaza, hoping to preserve stability.

That paradigm collapsed on October 7, 2023.

- Kingmakers under pressure -

With nearly 93 percent of the vote counted, Netanyahu’s bloc was at 53 seats and the opposition forces led by Eisenkot on 48 – both under the 61 needed to form a government.

The two Arab formations were on track for an unprecedented 19 seats between them.

Yousef Jabareen, head of the Joint List, had told AFP that he was willing to cooperate with the opposition to bring down Netanyahu but without joining it in a government.

Eisenkot called allegations of Qatari interference “profoundly serious” and backed an investigation, but warned that Netanyahu may be trying to delay election results.

Netanyahu had tried during the voting to raise allegations of fraud, saying that Arab parties were caught with envelopes of cash, and his Likud party peddled the accusations throughout Thursday.

Police said they arrested three suspects but the election commission called it an isolated local case.

Dean Livne, acting director general of the central elections committee, rejected a call from a right-wing lawmaker to convene a meeting on fraud, saying that any suggestion of widespread issues was “entirely groundless”.

Another factor that could play into the formation of a government is an attack on Iran.

Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran, with President Donald Trump signalling he was ready to attack after next Tuesday’s US midterm elections.

Eisenkot has warned the military that Netanyahu has no mandate and that officers must put Israel’s security over the premier’s “political needs”.

An attack could raise pressure on Eisenkot to join an emergency unity government or keep the clock running until Israel can call new elections.