Outgoing State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman stated on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, that Israel lacks a national policy and a designated government body to coordinate its response to foreign influence campaigns online. "The threat of foreign influence in the digital sphere is worrying," Englman said. "Hostile actors, including Iran, exploit social media covertly and systematically to deepen divisions, sow panic and engineer the Israeli public's perception of reality."

The State Comptroller's audit, conducted between July 2024 and January 2026, found that repeated attempts since 2017 to create an interagency response to foreign influence campaigns were never translated into a functioning national framework. The audit noted that the National Security Council, the National Cyber Directorate, the Intelligence Ministry, and the Shin Bet had identified the danger of such campaigns at different points.

A 2023 national-security assessment that included recommendations to improve the monitoring and disruption of foreign influence campaigns on social media was not presented to the cabinet. In August 2024, the Cyber Directorate presented a proposed national action plan to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and submitted it to the Prime Minister's Office in September 2024. As of mid-July 2025, the Prime Minister's Office had not examined the plan. The plan was transferred to the National Security Council only after the State Comptroller's Office raised the issue.

By August 2025, both the National Security Council and the Cyber Directorate had largely stepped back from broader work on foreign influence campaigns. The Cyber Directorate decided to focus only on cases in which foreign influence stemmed from cyberattacks used to achieve influence-related goals. There is no formal channel through which civil-society organizations or members of the public can report suspected foreign influence activity to the authorities.

Englman recommended that the National Security Council submit to the prime minister a framework for a government decision establishing a dedicated, budgeted coordinating body. He also called for stronger Shin Bet monitoring, a formal reporting channel for civil society, better data on platform-removal requests, mandatory digital-literacy education, and more structured election preparations. "Leaving the gaps in the field of foreign influence in the digital sphere unanswered leaves the Israeli public exposed and requires decisive national action," Englman said.