Elections Committee Official Disputes Claims of Systemic Election Tampering

Dean Livneh, the acting director-general of the Central Elections Committee, has rejected claims of systematic damage to the integrity of the elections. This response comes amid suspicions of foreign interference and an instruction from the committee's chairman, Judge Noam Sohlberg, to the head of the Shin Bet, David Zini, to launch an investigation.

Livneh was responding to a request from Member of Knesset Vladimir Beliak to convene the committee's presidency following the affair. In his letter, Livneh stated that "the elections were conducted lawfully, and there is no basis to claims of systematic damage to the integrity of the elections at the ballot boxes. The numerous media reports have no foundation."

However, Livneh did acknowledge that the committee had received classified and sensitive information. He noted that this information raised suspicions requiring further investigation to determine if evidence existed to substantiate them. The matter gains significance due to Sohlberg's unusual letter to the Shin Bet chief, which revealed suspicions of "serious suspicions of improper influence through foreign funding" by external entities on the elections.

Following the information presented by the Shin Bet chief, Sohlberg directed Zini to use the service's authorities to find evidence to support or refute these suspicions. Sohlberg also determined that due to the nature of the suspicions involving external actors, "there is a duty to investigate them properly," and requested the investigation's findings within a week, given the vote counting timelines.