Israel opposition weighs Arab support to oust Netanyahu

Israeli opposition leaders met in Herzliya on Tuesday to discuss how to remove Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after an inconclusive election left no side with a parliamentary majority.

The opposition bloc led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot won 48 seats in the 120-member parliament, while Netanyahu's camp won 53, including 27 for his Likud party.

Arab-majority parties won 19 seats. Their support could give Eisenkot a majority, but opposition parties are divided over whether to ally with them, and Arab politicians did not join the Herzliya talks.

Yair Lapid, a centrist former prime minister, said Netanyahu was backing what he called an attempt to invalidate the election and said the opposition needed to form a government.

Netanyahu and his allies have repeatedly alleged major fraud or wrongdoing by Arab-majority parties, which made historic gains in the vote. Netanyahu on Monday called for a broad national government without Arab-majority parties and said Likud's status as the largest single party meant he should lead the next coalition.

Avigdor Liberman, a right-wing member of Eisenkot's bloc, said another election should be avoided but that Arab-majority lists should not be included in government.

Yousef Jabareen, head of the largest Arab-majority party in the next parliament, told AFP that the opposition needed to accept political reality and team up to remove Netanyahu.