Three days after Shin Bet chief David Zini stood alongside Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg, who ruled that an investigation into suspected foreign interference would have no effect on Israel's election results, the security agency presented a new intelligence summary Wednesday warning of extensive foreign funding and influence operations potentially involving thousands of people. The agency did not present supporting evidence for its claims and declined to respond to questions.
"Information collected so far indicates that foreign financing and influence activities involving enormous sums of money are a widespread phenomenon affecting thousands of people, possibly even more," the Shin Bet said in a summary presented to members of the Central Elections Committee.
Shin Bet chief David Zini
(Photo: Shalev Shalom)
According to the document, intelligence gathered by the agency points to suspected large-scale transfers of money into Israel from foreign countries, originating with individuals or entities whose interests are concealed and potentially hostile. The suspected transfers were intended to advance foreign influence operations, the agency said, adding that the findings required further intelligence and investigative work.
"The intelligence presented by the service's professional staff indicates prima facie widespread transfers of large sums of money into Israel from foreign countries, originating from parties with hidden and even hostile interests, intended to promote foreign influence," the agency said.
"At this stage, we must complete additional intelligence gathering and investigative measures to obtain information that will allow us to connect the dots and determine the extent of the phenomenon with a high degree of certainty and confidence," it added.
The summary was presented Wednesday morning to the full Central Elections Committee, which includes representatives of the political parties, on the day scheduled for approval of the official election results.
The agency's latest assessment differs from the position presented Sunday, when Zini stood alongside Sohlberg as the judge stated that the investigation would not affect the election results. With the Shin Bet refusing to answer questions, it remains unclear whether Zini was already aware of the suspected scale of the activities at the time or whether the agency has since revised its assessment.
The controversy comes amid a Likud campaign alleging that the election was stolen through organized vote buying and foreign interference. Just a week earlier, Education Minister Yoav Kisch claimed that thousands of people had been brought to polling stations through large-scale election bribery.
"They brought thousands of people through election bribery on a massive scale," Kisch alleged. He described what he said was an organized operation outside polling stations, where individuals recorded who had voted and who had not, and those arriving to vote allegedly received envelopes.
The Shin Bet's statement does not establish that such alleged vote-buying operations occurred, identify the foreign actors supposedly involved or demonstrate that the reported activities affected the election results. The agency says additional investigative work is needed before it can determine the scope of the suspected foreign influence efforts with confidence.