Benjamin Netanyahu Accuses Coalition Of His Political Opponents The Result Of Biggest Election Fraud

Israel Naftali Bennet (Wikimedia Commons/The Israel Project) dan Benjamin Netanyahu (Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Department of State).

JAKARTA - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Israel's coalition formed by political opponents to overthrow him, the result of the biggest election 'cheating' in the history of democracy.

Hours after Netanyahu's comments on Sunday, June 6, Naftali Bennett, a nationalist who will succeed him as prime minister, called on Israel's longest-serving leader not to leave the scorched earth and accept people being allowed to establish a government.

Benjamin Netanyahu is making sweeping accusations, at a time when Israel's head of domestic security has publicly warned of the prospect of political violence.

"We are witnessing the biggest election fraud in the history of this country, in my opinion in the history of any democracy," Netanyahu said in comments to legislators from the far-right Likud party.

He focused his accusations on the broken campaign promises of Bennett, where he previously said he would not partner with left-wing, center and Arab parties.

Last Wednesday, Naftali Bennett announced with opposition leader Yair Lapid they had formed a governing coalition with factions from across the political spectrum following the inconclusive March 23 election, the fourth election in two years.

Under the rotation deal, Bennett will serve first as prime minister, followed by Lapid. However, no date has yet been set for a vote in parliament to approve the new government.

In a televised address, Bennett called on Yariv Levin, a spokesman for parliament and a Netanyahu loyalist, not to try to buy time to encourage new coalition members to defect. He insisted he had to hold a vote on Wednesday. There was no immediate comment from Levin.

"Let the country move forward. Mr Netanyahu don't leave the scorched earth behind you. We all, the whole nation, want to remember the good you did during your service," Bennett said.

For information, the head of Israel's Internal Security Agency, Shin Bet, issued a public warning regarding threats to Israel arising from mutual comments between politicians in cyberspace on Saturday last week. Something the Shin Bet rarely does.