Lapid: Netanyahu lost, trying to overturn election results

Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid said today (Monday) that there is only one reason Netanyahu and his people are doing everything to challenge the election results: "They lost." He called it an attempt to cancel Israeli democracy, and "we will not let that happen."

"Now they're doing everything, demonstrating, inventing conspiracy theories, challenging the results of democratic elections that the Shin Bet chief they appointed and Judge Solberg they chose signed off on," Lapid said. He added that "in a democratic state, the winners form a government and the losers go into opposition. That's what will happen."

Lapid's remarks came after Yashar! chairman Gadi Eisenkot said that "Likud and Netanyahu are in a rearguard battle." Eisenkot charged that they are continuing at full force with a destructive and violent de-legitimization campaign against the election results and the Central Elections Committee. "This is a direct attack on Israeli democracy, which sharpens the grave danger in the continued rule of Likud and Netanyahu and their grip on the centers of power and government," he wrote.

According to Eisenkot, the current attack is the product of those who understand the scale of the defeat they suffered. "They got used to doing as they pleased, without boundaries and without restraints. Those days are over," he made clear. He added that "anyone who thinks he can terrorize the change, does not properly assess the determination and commitment of me and my partners to the citizens of Israel."

Tikva Hadasha chairman Gideon Sa'ar responded sharply to Eisenkot's remarks. "So many words that belong on the battlefield in one post: 'rearguard battle,' 'attack' (several times), 'grave danger,' 'terrorize,'" Sa'ar wrote. "They are directed at the largest party in Israel, according to the choice of its citizens just six days ago."

Sa'ar added that "you addressed suspicions of foreign countries' interference in Israel's elections in an extraordinarily soft and brief manner." His words refer to the Shin Bet investigation into suspicions of foreign funding of the elections, according to which a Knesset member from the Joint List received hundreds of thousands of shekels in cash.

Tensions among the leaders of the change bloc are also rising following remarks by Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman, who leveled sharp criticism at Eisenkot. "The opposition failed miserably. The responsibility lies with Gadi Eisenkot, who ran an egotistical campaign," Liberman claimed in a briefing with reporters. According to him, "we lost between seven and eight mandates in the last ten days."

Liberman also revealed that since the election results he has met with figures from both political blocs. "Since the elections I've met with all the who's who. Both in the opposition and in the coalition," he said. He addressed the situation in Netanyahu's bloc: "Deri isn't answering Bibi, and United Torah Judaism are saying openly that they're no longer committed to the bloc."

Meanwhile, the leaders of the change bloc are scheduled to convene tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11:30 at the Dan Accadia Hotel in Herzliya. The first meeting of its kind since the publication of the election results will deal with coordinating the bloc's moves, against the backdrop of the political deadlock that has been created.

The partial results put Netanyahu at 53 mandates and Eisenkot at 48. Likud turned to the Elections Committee with a demand for an urgent convening in light of suspicions of foreign interference, but committee chairman Judge Noam Solberg rejected the demand and made clear that there is no authority not to approve the results.