Shin Bet leads joint probe into suspected foreign election interference

Israeli security and law enforcement agencies held a first meeting Thursday to investigate suspected foreign funding aimed at influencing the 2026 elections. A joint team led by Shin Bet was established.

A first meeting was held today (Thursday) between representatives of the Shin Bet, the police, and the State Attorney's Office regarding the foreign interference in the 2026 elections affair. At the end of the meeting, it was decided to establish a joint investigation team led by the Shin Bet, and the collection of materials to be transferred to the police has begun. The affair became public last week after the Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Judge Noam Sohlberg, turned to Shin Bet Director David Zini with a demand to investigate suspicions of foreign funding and election bribery by foreign entities. According to the letter, the main suspicion is that Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood movement funneled money intended to incentivize voters in the Arab sector. i24NEWS has learned that the timeline presented in the Shin Bet's announcement is completely reversed: Zini updated Prime Minister Netanyahu before turning to Sohlberg. At the center of the investigation is a suspicion that hundreds of thousands of shekels were transferred from a Qatari entity to a body affiliated with the Joint List. Turkey's involvement as a conduit for transferring funds is also being examined.