“Elections are not a civil war,” Herzog said. “Elections are a social, democratic and political process, very significant and important in the life of a nation.”
President Isaac Herzog met Thursday with Central Elections Committee chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head David Zini, warning that hostile actors in Israel and abroad were seeking to undermine the integrity of the country’s upcoming election.
The meeting, held at the President’s Residence and convened at Zini’s initiative, focused on preparations for the next national election and on coordination between state bodies to ensure a secure, fair and trusted vote. Herzog said the meeting was meant to give backing to the Central Elections Committee and ensure that the election would be held “according to the rules and according to the law.”
“Elections are not a civil war,” Herzog said. “Elections are a social, democratic and political process, very significant and important in the life of a nation.”
He warned that Israel faces “many hostile foreign digital influences,” as well as actors “from within, and especially from outside,” who seek to harm election integrity and “break apart our society.”
“We are here to guarantee that this will not happen,” Herzog said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Shin Bet Director David Zini, October 23, 2025. (credit: HAIM ZACH/GPO)
Zini said the Shin Bet’s election-related work would be carried out under Sohlberg’s authority.
“When it comes to elections, the Shin Bet is directly subordinate to the chairman of the Central Elections Committee, in order to do everything in our power to maintain the statesmanship and integrity of the elections,” Zini said.
Sohlberg, who also serves as deputy president of the Supreme Court, said election integrity was the committee’s central concern.
“We want election day to be not only a day of elections, but also a holiday of elections,” he said.
Sohlberg said the committee currently has 60 employees, will later grow to 1,300, and on election day will reach 90,000 workers. He said the committee was aware of the challenges ahead, but stressed that its employees were working professionally and intensively to prepare.
Election set for October 27
Israel’s next election is currently scheduled for October 27, 2026, unless the Knesset passes a dissolution law setting an earlier date.
The warning came two days after outgoing State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman published a special audit finding that Israel still has no national policy or designated government body leading the response to foreign influence campaigns in the digital sphere.
The report said election periods are especially vulnerable to attempts to manipulate public debate, deepen social divisions, and undermine trust in election results. It also found gaps in coordination between the bodies handling such threats, no formal mechanism for the public or civil society groups to report suspected foreign influence campaigns, and no permanent government body responsible for public awareness on the issue.
Yesh Atid MKs demand committee deal with foreign election interference
Separately on Thursday, Yesh Atid MKs Karin Elharrar and Vladimir Beliak wrote to Sohlberg demanding that the committee urgently formulate a policy for dealing with foreign influence attempts online ahead of the election for the 26th Knesset.
The MKs said the comptroller’s report presented an “extremely worrying picture” of the state’s preparedness for the campaign. They warned that the lack of one coordinating body and the absence of a clear national policy could harm election integrity and citizens’ ability to form their opinions freely.
They also cited a September 2024 text-message attack described in the comptroller’s report, in which some five million messages were sent to Israelis by actors identified with Hezbollah and Iran, including messages that mimicked emergency alerts in an effort to influence public opinion and sow panic.
Elharrar and Beliak called for the committee to implement the comptroller’s recommendations, draft procedures for monitoring and thwarting foreign influence on social media, strengthen public information efforts, and establish a dedicated interministerial team with relevant security, cyber and legal bodies.
They warned that, given the comptroller’s finding that 58% of Israelis get most of their information from social media, the absence of organized preparation could seriously harm Israeli democracy and the integrity of the election.