Exposed: The Government’s “No-Plan” Policy Against Foreign Election Meddling
The latest report from State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman is not merely a bureaucratic critique; it is a siren song of warning regarding the integrity of the most fundamental pillar of our state: the democratic process. In any functioning democracy, the protection of elections from foreign subversion is considered a core national security imperative. Yet, as our nation faces an existential challenge, we are left with a government that has effectively left the front door to our consciousness wide open.
A Decade of Neglect
According to the Comptroller’s findings, Israel currently possesses no national policy to combat foreign election meddling. This is not a failure of oversight; it is a dereliction of duty. Nine years have passed since the threat was first identified by our intelligence apparatus, and yet, in the face of rapidly evolving threats, our leadership remains paralyzed. A national action plan was presented to the Prime Minister’s office over a year ago. It remains unreviewed, gathering dust while hostile actors sharpen their digital knives.
For those of us observing the current coalition’s trajectory, this apathy is hardly surprising, though it remains deeply alarming. This is a government that has spent its political capital systematically dismantling the checks and balances that protect our democratic institutions. When the executive branch views judicial independence, professional civil service, and investigative scrutiny as obstacles to be bypassed rather than partners in statecraft, it is perhaps logical—in their cynical worldview—that safeguarding the sanctity of the vote would also be treated as a low-priority inconvenience.
The New Frontier: AI and Social Fragmentation
The threat is no longer theoretical, nor is it a relic of the “Russian interference” debates of the last decade. It is immediate, AI-driven, and hyper-targeted. Hostile actors, including Iran, are no longer just posting crude slogans; they are leveraging advanced artificial intelligence to create deepfakes and fictitious personas at scale. They are currently exploiting the very social divisions that the current cabinet has worked so tirelessly to widen for its own political survival. By fueling internal polarization, these actors do not need to hack a voting machine to undermine our sovereignty—they simply need to ensure that when we go to the ballot box, we are voting in a climate of panic, distrust, and manufactured chaos.
Institutional Paralysis
The Comptroller’s report exposes a chilling vacuum: the National Security Council ceased dealing with this issue in August 2025, and the Shin Bet only began its preparatory work this past January. Why this lethargy? The answer seems to lie in a government that is more preoccupied with survival against legal challenges and domestic protest than it is with the integrity of the state itself. When the government’s own ministers are busy undermining the legitimacy of the judiciary and attacking the media, why should we expect them to defend the digital public square from foreign manipulation?
The Central Elections Committee has attempted to deflect responsibility, noting that the mandate for security lies with the government. They are correct, but the deflection itself illustrates the broader malaise: a state apparatus that has become atomized and uncoordinated.
The Cost of Apathy
As journalists, we often focus on the headlines of the day—the latest judicial maneuver or the latest incendiary comment from a cabinet member. But we must realize that these are symptoms of a larger, systemic erosion. When the state refuses to protect the democratic process from foreign influence, it effectively concedes that the opinion of the Israeli citizen is a secondary consideration.
We are living through a period where the “radicalization” of our political discourse is no longer just a domestic phenomenon; it is a theater of war where foreign intelligence services are playing an active, unopposed role. By neglecting to draft a national strategy, the Netanyahu government is essentially inviting these actors to participate in our elections.
The silence from the Prime Minister’s office on this report is deafening. Does this government, which prides itself on “strong leadership,” actually believe that sovereignty ends at the physical border? Or do they fear that a robust, objective mechanism to combat disinformation might accidentally identify and label the government’s own coordinated digital influence campaigns as the foreign-inspired toxicity they truly are?
The state of our democracy depends on our ability to distinguish truth from fiction and to debate without foreign-orchestrated vitriol. If the government will not take action to secure the digital perimeter of our elections, it confirms the suspicion that they are more interested in clinging to power than in preserving the democracy they were elected to serve. We are being left exposed, and it is time for the public to demand that the survival of our democratic process be prioritized over the political survival of those currently occupying the Knesset.
