Shin Bet Warns of Foreign Election Hacking

Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman has issued a warning about a foreign state that “intends to intervene” in Israel’s upcoming elections, but could not say whose side they would be on.

Argaman made the disclosure Monday night at an event in Tel Aviv, according to Hadashot on Tuesday.

The military censor allowed excerpts to be released to the public, which left the matter rather vague:

“I can’t say at this point for whom or against whom” the intervention will come, “but it involves cyber and hacking,” the security chief said.

In another version, Argaman said that the information was solid: “100 percent that [unreportable foreign state] will intervene in the upcoming elections, and I know what I’m talking about, I just don’t know in whose favor.”

In response, Zionist Camp MK Ayelet Nahmias-Verbin, a member of the cyber subcommittee of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, requested an urgent session to discuss the threat.

At least one politician claimed to know whom was being referred to. Meretz chairwoman MK Tamar Zandberg issued a statement saying, “We demand that the security services make sure that Putin doesn’t steal the elections for his friend, the tyrant Bibi.”

Earlier in the day, State Comptroller Joseph Shapira said that he would be reviewing how well election authorities protect their systems and relevant political parties from hacking or social-media manipulation.