Israel nonetheless has no nationwide coverage or designated authorities physique to coordinate its response to overseas affect campaigns on-line, 9 years after the risk was first recognized, outgoing State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman mentioned on Tuesday.
The discovering comes as Israel enters an election 12 months, which the report described as a very susceptible interval for makes an attempt to govern public debate, form perceptions and undermine belief in election outcomes.
“The specter of overseas affect within the digital sphere is worrying,” Englman mentioned. “Hostile actors, together with Iran, exploit social media covertly and systematically to deepen divisions, sow panic and engineer the Israeli public’s notion of actuality.”
The comptroller’s audit, carried out between July 2024 and January 2026, discovered that repeated makes an attempt since 2017 to create an interagency response had been by no means translated right into a functioning nationwide framework.
In line with the report, the Nationwide Safety Council, the Nationwide Cyber Directorate, the now-defunct Intelligence Ministry, the Shin Guess (Israel Safety Company) and different our bodies every recognized the hazard at completely different factors. But initiatives to coordinate their work had been deserted, a nationwide coverage was by no means authorized, and duty for the difficulty was left unassigned.
Nationwide safety motion plan submitted, not examined by PM Netanyahu
A 2023 national-security evaluation that included suggestions to enhance the monitoring and disruption of overseas affect campaigns on social media was not introduced to the cupboard, the report mentioned.
The Cyber Directorate introduced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a proposed nationwide motion plan in August 2024 and submitted it the next month. Nonetheless, as of mid-July 2025, the plan had not been examined by the Prime Minister’s Workplace, in accordance with the comptroller. It was transferred to the NSC solely after the State Comptroller’s Workplace raised the difficulty.
By August 2025, each the NSC and Cyber Directorate had largely stepped again from broader work on the difficulty. The Cyber Directorate determined to focus solely on instances during which overseas affect stemmed from cyberattacks used to realize influence-related targets.
The report warned that the ensuing gaps have left Israel with solely a partial image of overseas exercise on-line.
The Shin Guess displays suspected overseas affect operations, however the audit discovered that some technological and operational difficulties remained unresolved. A pilot meant to enhance monitoring capabilities was nonetheless being examined in July 2025, earlier than the Cyber Directorate stopped engaged on the broader subject.
The report additionally discovered that there is no such thing as a formal channel by way of which civil-society organizations or members of the general public can report suspected overseas affect exercise to the authorities.
That hole is severe given the position on-line platforms now play in Israeli public life. In line with a survey cited within the report, some 58% of Israelis mentioned they frequently get information by way of social media.
Report factors to a number of examples of affect exercise, election interference
The report pointed to a number of examples of affect exercise. One was a marketing campaign often known as ISNAD, which a 2024 examine described as looking for to affect Israeli public opinion over the battle. The report mentioned the marketing campaign produced 1000’s of messages between December 2023 and August 2024 and operated between 300 and 1,000 pretend accounts on X alone.
It additionally cited a marketing campaign recognized by Israeli firm Subsequent Dim that sought, within the first days of the Gaza battle, to advertise the “GazaGenocide” narrative on-line. Visualizations included within the report confirmed the marketing campaign’s preliminary exercise and the following unfold of the time period right into a broader anti-Israel on-line dialog.
The report additional famous that roughly 5 million alarming SMS messages, falsely warning recipients to instantly enter protected areas, had been despatched to Israelis in September 2024 in a marketing campaign attributed by the Nationwide Cyber Directorate to Iran and Hezbollah.
Efforts to take away dangerous materials have additionally been troublesome to evaluate. Requests despatched by safety our bodies and authorities ministries to the Cyber Division of the State Legal professional’s Workplace for voluntary platform removals rose from about 8,600 in 2021 to greater than 106,000 in 2024. Between 15% and 25% of requests forwarded to platforms in these years weren’t answered, the report mentioned.
However the division doesn’t individually observe requests involving overseas affect operations, which means the federal government can not decide how platforms responded particularly in that space.
The comptroller additionally criticized the shortage of preparation in faculties and forward of elections. Academic supplies on disinformation and significant pondering stay optionally available, regardless of the dangers posed by manipulated content material and synthetic intelligence-generated materials. A “Pretend or Not” initiative run by the Training Ministry recorded solely about 9,000 website visits and 45,000 content material views over roughly a 12 months and a half.
The report mentioned the Central Elections Committee had gaps in its risk evaluation, whereas Justice Ministry tips drafted in 2019 for responding to on-line election interference had not been up to date regardless of main advances in synthetic intelligence.
Englman really useful that the NSC undergo the prime minister a framework for a authorities choice establishing a devoted, budgeted coordinating physique. He additionally referred to as for stronger Shin Guess monitoring, a proper reporting channel for civil society, higher knowledge on platform-removal requests, necessary digital-literacy training, and extra structured election preparations.
“I wish to elevate a purple flag,” Englman mentioned. “Leaving the gaps within the discipline of overseas affect within the digital sphere unanswered leaves the Israeli public uncovered and requires decisive nationwide motion.”
