Zehut chairman Moshe Feiglin recommended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form the next government during consultations with President Isaac Herzog, even as he sharply criticized the prime minister’s failure to take responsibility for the October 7 massacre.
“On October 8, Netanyahu should have put down the keys and taken responsibility, and it is very serious that he did not do so,” Feiglin said at the President’s Residence on Wednesday. Explaining why he nonetheless chose Netanyahu over Yashar leader Gadi Eisenkot, he said, “From my perspective, the alternative is not worth it.”
On Thursday, Otzma Yehudit also recommended Netanyahu, and Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf told Herzog that the election had been stolen. “Mr. President, an election was stolen here,” Wasserlauf said. “We are talking about around 100 million shekels that went to voters. This is an earthquake.” He also called on Herzog to require every party making a recommendation to declare clearly and explicitly that Hamas is a terrorist organization.
Herzog pushed back on the claim. “Right now, everything is in the realm of speculation. There is no information detailing such a sum,” he said. “We must avoid generalizations and be careful. Sometimes very sweeping claims are made that end up fizzling out.” The president noted that a special investigative team made up of the Shin Bet, the Israel Police and the State Attorney’s Office has been established. “They are going into this investigation with full force and will leave no stone unturned,” he said.
The 100 million shekel figure echoes remarks attributed to Shin Bet Director David Zini, who reportedly told senior officials that sums of up to that amount had been transferred. Investigators are examining suspicions that foreign actors, including Qatar, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority, funneled large sums to figures in the Joint List in an attempt to influence the election.
