Lieberman to summon Shin Bet, police chiefs over foreign election interference

Avigdor Lieberman said he will summon the Shin Bet director and police commissioner to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to discuss foreign interference in the 2026 elections, citing a gap between their positions. Police later submitted an opinion finding no evidence of security or campaign finance violations.

An assessment prepared by the Israeli police revealed that the intelligence materials received from the Shin Bet do not establish suspicion of committing violations related to election funding or security violations, dealing a blow to the claims pushed by Shin Bet chief David Zini and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding foreign interference in the 26th Knesset elections. The Ynet website quoted a police source as saying: "There are no dramatic events, as they tried to portray, regarding foreign influence in the Knesset elections." The police forwarded its assessment to the government's legal adviser, Gali Baharav-Miara, after a meeting held last Thursday. The assessment undermines attempts to give a security dimension to the issue after the suspicions were used in a campaign to criminalize Arab political participation. The report confirms that the examined materials do not support suspicions of election funding or security violations that were raised.