by Uzi Baruch
According to information presented by the Shin Bet, funds are suspected of being channeled from foreign countries to influence events in Israel, potentially involving thousands of people.
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| Sohlberg and ISA director David Zini Yonatan Sindel/Flash90 |
Central Elections Committee Chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg presented committee members on Wednesday with intelligence from the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency - ISA) indicating that substantial sums of money had allegedly been transferred to Israel from foreign countries as part of efforts to exert foreign influence.
According to the intelligence assessment, the activity may involve thousands of people or more and could represent a widespread foreign funding operation.
The material presented by Sohlberg included an assessment by Shin Betprofessionals pointing to suspected extensive financial transfers originating from parties with undisclosed, and potentially hostile, interests.
"The intelligence presented by the agency's professionals appears to indicate widespread transfers of substantial funds to Israel from foreign countries, originating from parties with undisclosed and even hostile interests, intended to advance foreign influence," the statement said.
The information collected so far suggests that the phenomenon could involve thousands of individuals and enormous sums of money.
"The information collected so far indicates that funding and foreign influence activities involving enormous sums are a widespread phenomenon involving thousands of people and possibly more," the assessment stated.
However, the Shin Bet emphasized that the available intelligence was not yet sufficient to establish the full scope of the activity or determine who was involved.
"At this stage, we must complete additional intelligence-gathering and investigative activities to obtain intelligence that will allow us to connect the dots and establish the scope of the phenomenon with a high degree of certainty and confidence," the agency said.
The existence of foreign influence operations does not, in itself, establish that election results were manipulated or that interference occurred on a scale that would justify invalidating the results.
The disclosure comes amid controversy surrounding the results of the election for the 26th Knesset and allegations of attempts by foreign actors to influence the electoral process.
Earlier Wednesday, the presidium of the Central Elections Committee approved the election results, with opposition representatives voting in favor while Likud and Shas abstained.
The committee also announced that it had completed a review of 9,069 polling stations, finding no evidence that the integrity of the election had been compromised or that the results had been altered.
Uzi Baruch
Source: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/435645
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