In Israel, people are worried about the possibility of external interference in the November elections, mainly through cyber means. “Maariv” has learned that Israel recently appealed to Russia to not try to interfere in the upcoming campaign by any means. The appeal was apparently made at an organizational level, between the Shin Bet and its Russian counterpart, following the Prime Minister’s directive Yair Lapid.
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In January 2019, on the eve of the Moed A elections, former Shin Bet chief Nadav Argman appeared at Tel Aviv University and dropped a bombshell: he warned of “a move that could affect the results of the elections and the intervention of a foreign country.”
According to Argaman, the information he has is based. “I know what I’m talking about,” he said, adding that “a foreign country intends to interfere in the elections in Israel, I don’t know for whose benefit or against whom and I don’t know what the political interest is, but this country intends to interfere in the elections and will do so through cyber means, such as hackers, Hackers, etc.”
Following Argaman’s statement, which was published on Channel 12, it was assumed that it was Russia. The Russian embassy issued a sweeping public denial of the possibility hinted at by the head of the Shin Bet. One way or another, Israel has invested a lot of effort in trying to build firewalls and defense against foreign interference of this kind, whether from Russia or from much more hostile directions, such as Iran.
Also this time, it turns out, there are similar warnings. Regarding Iran, there is no doubt in the security establishment that the Iranians would be happy to interfere in the elections and disrupt them, if only to deepen the political chaos in Israel. On the Russian issue, as mentioned, a clear message was recently delivered, under the direction of the Prime Minister, to Moscow. The message was matter-of-fact and focused, and included a request to avoid any interference in the democratic process in Israel.
The Shin Bet gave this response: “The Shin Bet does not refer to the dialogue that takes place between it and intelligence organizations in the world.”