Israel says it can foil election meddling

Russia suspected of possible intervention via cyber technology

JERUSALEM — Israel’s internal security service said Wednesday it was prepared to thwart any foreign intervention in the upcoming elections, after its director warned such efforts were being made by a world power, with suspicions falling on Russia.

The unusual Shin Bet statement followed a TV report that Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman recently told a closed audience that a foreign country was trying to intervene in the April elections via hackers and cyber technology.

“The Shin Bet would like to make clear that the state of Israel and the intelligence community have the tools and capabilities to identify, monitor and thwart foreign influence efforts, should there be any,” it said. “The Israeli defense apparatus is able to guarantee democratic and free elections are held in Israel.”

Argaman did not say for whose benefit the alleged meddling was being done. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has grown closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent years. However, Netanyahu is far ahead in the polls at the moment and does not appear to need any outside help.

Even so, fingers were quickly pointed toward Russia, which is accused of trying to influence the 2016 American election in favor of Donald Trump, the Brexit campaign in the United Kingdom and other recent European elections.

“Russia has not interfered and has no intentions to interfere in any elections in any country in the world,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday.

Israel is a cyber superpower with a governmental cyber defense body. It still uses paper ballots on election day rather than digital systems, but could still be vulnerable to other types of pre-election intervention, like hacking into party databases, spreading disinformation through social media, and leaking personal and embarrassing material on the candidates, said Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler, an expert on technology policy at the nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute.

“Russia is trying throughout all the Western countries to undermine the public’s trust in liberal democracy,” she said. “There is no doubt they will try to do here what they have done in other countries.”