Shin Bet: Election interference was ‘widespread’ and involved ‘thousands’; Pres Herzog calls to wait for investigation results

Israel’s domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet on Wednesday revealed new details from its investigation into alleged foreign interference in last week’s election, claiming the phenomenon was “widespread” after its director declared just days ago that there was no danger to the integrity of the overall results.

The update came at a meeting of the Central Elections Committee (CEC), which ratified and then presented the official election results to President Isaac Herzog, after its own review found no reason to call the outcome into question.

According to a Shin Bet official, intelligence “points to widespread instances of large sums of money being funneled into Israel from foreign countries, originating from individuals or entities with hidden and even hostile interests, with the aim of advancing foreign influence. In our assessment, these findings warrant further intelligence gathering and investigation.”

The Shin Bet’s update to members of the Central Elections Committee regarding suspected foreign interference in the elections: “The intelligence presented by the agency’s professional staff allegedly points to widespread instances of large sums of money being funneled into Israel from foreign countries, originating from individuals or entities with hidden and even hostile interests, with the aim of advancing foreign influence. In our assessment, these findings warrant further intelligence gathering and investigation. “Based on the information collected so far, foreign funding and influence operations involving enormous sums of money appear to be a widespread phenomenon, involving thousands of people and possibly even more. “At this stage, we must complete additional intelligence-gathering and investigative activities to obtain information that will allow us to connect the dots and establish, with a high degree of confidence and reliability, the full extent of this phenomenon.”

— Amit Segal (@AmitSegal) November 4, 2026

“Based on the information collected so far, foreign funding and influence operations involving enormous sums of money appear to be a widespread phenomenon, involving thousands of people and possibly even more,” according to the Shin Bet.

The official noted that the investigation would need to allow Shin Bet “to connect the dots and establish, with a high degree of confidence and reliability, the full extent of this phenomenon.”

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara harshly criticized the security agency for failing to present the evidentiary basis for its investigation after denying a request to interrogate four senior Arab party officials, effectively accusing the agency of conducting an illegal probe.

Opposition leaders have seized on the investigation, claiming the government is exploiting it to target the Arab parties and prevent them from cooperating with the opposition. Meanwhile, the Likud and its allies are claiming the elections were “stolen” and accusing the attorney general of a cover-up.

Most representatives of the governing coalition abstained from the CEC’s vote to ratify the election results, while Jewish Power voted against. Earlier, Likud representative on the CEC presidium, Knesset Member Amit Halevi, resigned in protest over what he described as a largely symbolic vote.

“Until the serious suspicions of foreign countries’ interference, which have a security dimension, as Judge Solberg described them, are dispelled, the Elections Committee has no authority to discuss or approve them,” Halevi argued, accusing law enforcement of “doing everything to thwart the investigation.”

“If, God forbid, this attempt at foreign takeover of the Knesset succeeds, and Knesset members who bought their seats with bribe money are sworn into the Knesset, the path to eliminating Israel as a Jewish and democratic state will be open to many others,” he warned.

Speaking to the left-wing newspaper Haaretz, law enforcement sources said they were unfamiliar with the Shin Bet’s new claims. “If that’s the case, then how is it possible that [Shin Bet Director David] Zini said on election day that the vote was safe?” one of the sources asked. “If huge sums were flowing in, it should have been thwarted.”

Meanwhile, President Herzog, upon receiving the official election results, expressed his “full confidence in the work of the Shin Bet, the Israel Police, and the law enforcement authorities.”

“Any suspicion of subversive foreign interference in the election results must be fully investigated by the Shin Bet and the Police,” he said. “Patience is needed. The investigation will be carried out professionally, in cooperation among all the bodies on the special investigative team, and I trust these processes, as has always been the case.”

He also said he had spoken with Baharav-Miara and Zini on Wednesday morning. “Tension between the Shin Bet and the legal system has existed in Israel before, and it will exist again. It is a tension built into a democratic state. The State of Israel has been blessed with dedicated and talented public servants. I trust them and their integrity, and I am sure that they will know how to work together.”

Following the Shin Bet’s revelations, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called on Zini to disregard the AG’s opposition and “arrest all the heads of the Arab parties and interrogate them in the Shin Bet's basements until the suspicions are fully clarified, and to immediately freeze the approval of the election results and the formation of the government.”