BICOM

The Director of Israel’s Internal Security Service, the Shin Bet, warned yesterday that a foreign country intended to interfere in the Israeli elections.

Speaking to a conference of the Friends of Tel Aviv University, Nadav Argaman said: “I don’t know for what side they will be taking action. At this point I can’t identify their political interest —but it will interfere, and I know what I’m talking about.” He added that that same country “will attempt to do so by means of cyber technology—hackers, etc.”

The Israeli Military Censor initially banned reporting of Argaman’s warning but later permitted reporting of his speech, instructing media not to name the country involved, which is widely believed to be Russia. A statement subsequently released by the Shin Bet said: “Following reports this evening, the Shin Bet would like to make clear that the State of Israel and the intelligence community have the tools and capabilities to identify, monitor and thwart foreign influence efforts, should there be any. The Israeli defence apparatus is able to enable democratic and free elections to be held in Israel.”

Israel uses paper ballots, rather than digital systems. Haaretz quotes Gal Fenigshtein, a Check Point intelligence analyst who said: “The vulnerabilities are in the computerised lists of voters, its distribution to polling stations and tabulation of results. The information in databases like these is significant… The minute you have information on so many voters, you can create a connection with them, send text messages to them and try to influence their opinions.” MK Yoel Hasson of Hatnua said that Israel’s Central Elections Committee must be prepared to prevent any attempts to hack its computer system and the spread of fake news on social media.

Last year, the Israel Defence Forces Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel must be prepared for such an attack, alluding to similar incidents that occurred in the US, France and Ukraine. Additionally, the State Comptroller, Yosef Shapira, announced that his office was preparing an investigation that would deal with Israel’s readiness for any external election interference.

In a statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow “did not intervene, does not intervene and does not intend to intervene in elections in any country in the world.”