Shin Bet chief reportedly compared alleged election interference to Oct. 7

Shin Bet chief David Zini compared the alleged foreign interference in Israel’s election last week to the shock assaults that sparked the Gaza and Yom Kippur wars, Channel 12 reports.

“I consider the case of the money that came here in the election to be like the failure of October 7. It’s our Yom Kippur. It’s the greatest strategic terror attack in the country’s history,” Zini said at a recent Shin Bet conference, the network says, referring to both the Hamas attack in 2023 and the surprise 1973 Arab invasion.

Zini also reportedly sought to move officers from the Palestinian arena to a special team set up to probe the allegations, but the move didn’t take place because the team said it was unnecessary.

Channel 12 quotes a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation as saying the Shin Bet has activated its special capabilities in the case to an extent that “exceeds the realm of reason” given the available evidence.

Shin Bet sources are also quoted by the network as saying Zini “believes with all his heart that very serious things happened” and is “moving resources inside the organization in a disproportionate manner.”

The sources accuse Zini of “throwing a tantrum” and putting together a “partial and almost misleading” picture based on isolated intelligence.

Separately, Channel 12 reports the Shin Bet is looking into three suspected routes used by hostile entities abroad to send cash to Israel as part of the alleged election interference.

The agency discovered one of the suspected routes before the October 27 election and has “solid evidence” of the source and destination of the funds that traveled the route, Channel 12 says, adding that the suspected amount is “almost negligible.”

The two other suspected routes were reportedly found after the election. There is only partial evidence for those routes’ existence and no certainty about the amount of money that they may have carried, according to Channel 12.