Shin Bet warns of massive foreign election interference involving thousands of people
According to Ynet, three days after Shin Bet chief David Zini stood alongside Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg—who ruled that an investigation into foreign interference would not affect election results—the security agency presented a new intelligence summary Wednesday. The agency warned that foreign financing and influence activities involving enormous sums are a widespread phenomenon affecting thousands of people, possibly even more. The Shin Bet did not present supporting evidence for its claims and declined to answer questions. The document states that intelligence 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 controversy comes amid a Likud campaign alleging that the election was stolen through organized vote buying and foreign interference. 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.