One is hard pressed to find a reasonable explanation, except for serious fraud, for conduct of three officers of the Central Election Committee, who stated that the Shin-Bet examined and certified the Committee's IT systems. The Shin-Bet response, which adamantly denied such claims, also implicates a series of Supreme Court justices, who chaired the Committee...

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One is hard pressed to find a reasonable explanation, except for serious fraud, for conduct of three officers of the Central Election Committee, who stated that the Shin-Bet examined and certified the Committee's IT systems. The Shin-Bet response, which adamantly denied such claims, also implicates a series of Supreme Court justices, who chaired the Committee...

Figure 1: Attorney Orly Adas -- CEO of the Central Election Committee in a promotional photograph prior to the 2015 general election, in front of a roomful of computers. The Shin-Bet response implicates her in serious fraud.

Figure 2: PM Benjamin Netanyahu with departing Shin-Bet Head Yoram Cohen and incoming Shin-Bet Head Nadav Argaman in May 2016.

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OccupyTLV, February 15 -- response letter was received by email from the Prime Minister's office, pertaining to inquiry with Shin-Bet Head Nadav Argaman. [1] The inquiry asked that the Shin-Bet Head to confirm or refute a FOIA response by the General Election Committee, which stated that the Shin-Bet's Re'em (Data Security Authority) examined and certified the Committee's IT systems (Figure 3).

Figure 3: -- FOIA response by the Central Election Committee says, "The Central Election Committee operates by consultation with the National Data Security Authority [Shin-Bet/Re'em -- jz], and acts pursuant to its guidance. The system was examined and certified by the Authority."

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The Shin-Bet refutes the Central Election Committee's statement that Shin-Bet examined and certified the Committee's systems

The response letter (Figure 4), received from the Prime Minister's office on behalf of the Shin-Bet, adamantly refutes the Committees statement.

The letter says:

Toward the 2015 election, the Shin-Bet consented to an inquiry by the Central Election Committee and assisted the Committee with general consulting relative to security of its IT systems.

The Shin-Bet is neither the Committee's guiding authority, and therefore nor its systems certifying authority.

Figure 4: Response on the inquiry with Shin-Bet Head Argaman says: "The Shin-Bet is neither the Committee's guiding authority, and therefore nor its systems certifying authority."

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Already upon receipt of the Committee's FOIA response, it was deemed false and misleading on a number of issues. Therefore, objections and request for corrections were filed with the Committee already then. Now, following the receipt of the response on the inquiry with the Shin-Bet, the Committee was again asked to provide a corrected FOIA response without any further delay.

US and Israeli publications claim large-scale computer fraud in the 2015 general election

The FOIA request was filed on the Central Election Committee following publications, which claimed serious computer fraud in the 2015 general election:

• Daily Kos, the US-based blog, was the first to publish such claims, days after the election. Daily Kos is an influential blog, which had published in the past information, which clearly originated in the Obama White House. The report regarding the Israeli general election was attributed to "Athenian" (living most likely in Athens, often reporting on Middle-eastern issues), based on information obtained from retired US diplomat Brady Kiesling. However, it was unlikely the the data originated with either Kiesling or Athenian...

Figure 5: US publication in Daily Kos immediately following the Israeli 2015 general election. [2]

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• A few weeks later, Attorney David Levi (a colorful character -- now criminally prosecuted for NIS 17 million embezzlement from the Tax Authority, for whom he acted as an outside attorney), published similar data in Israel. Consequently he also filed a petition with the Supreme Court, which was summarily denied for "lack of standing". It is unlikely that the data originated in Levi either...

Figure 6: One of the publications in Israeli by Attorney David Levi, which claimed computer fraud in the 2015 general election. [3]

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The similarity between the data and the mode of presentation of Daily Kos's and Levi's publications raises the presumption that they both originated in the same source. And since Levi makes no secret of his Shin-Bet contacts, one can presume that some in the Shin-Bet leaked the data, which were the source of the publications both in Israel and in the US.

Even prior to the Shin-Bet's response, the Committee's FOIA response was deemed fraud.

The FOIA request on the Central Election Committee sought documentation that IT systems of the Committee had been developed, examined, are operated and secured in compliance with the law and binding state standards. The Committee's FOIA response included almost 200 pages. Moreover, correspondence with the Committee made it clear that three (3) attorneys were involved in drafting the response:

• Attorney Elad Naveh -- FOIA Officer;

• Attorney Orly Adas -- CEO, and

• Attorney Dean Livneh -- Legal Advisor.

Immediately upon receipt and examination of the FOIA response, it was deemed false and misleading -- serious fraud by legal State officers.

Therefore, reply was consequently sent to the Committee. The reply detailed objections to the FOIA response, and asked for corrected response within 14 days. The Committee has not responded to this date.

And yet, the FOIA response provided some interesting information: The FOIA response purported that integrity of the systems (and with it integrity of the 2013 and 2015 elections) depended almost entirely on a single, previously unmentioned state employee -- Lazar Dudovich. However, regardless of the explicit FOIA request, certifications by Mr Dudovich of the system's integrity and security were not provided with the FOIA response.

Supreme Court Justices, who served as Committee Chairs -- incompetent and/or corrupt?

By law, a Supreme Court justice serves as Chairman of the Central Election Committee. Following is the list of justices, who served in such capacity since 2004 (approximate date of initiation of development of "Democracy" IT system of the Central Election Committee):

Figure 7: Supreme Court Justices, who chaired the Central Election Committee since 2004 (approximate time of initiation of the new computerization project): Jacob Turkel, Dorit Beinisch, Eliezer Rivlin, Ayala Procaccia, Miriam Naor, Elyakim Rubinstein, Salim Joubran, Esther Hayut. The justices are suspected of incompetence, misprision, or collusion...

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Therefore, the nature of conduct of these justices in their capacity as Chairs of the Committee begs for questions" The answer is relatively clear: Such justices should be suspected of incompetence, misprision, or collusion...

One should recall that the Supreme Court justices engage in routine fraud and perversion of court records in the Supreme Court's IT system as well. [4] Moreover, Supreme Court presiding justices and judges, who are Directors of Administration of Courts (first and foremost former Presiding Justice Aharon Barak and former Director of the Administration of Courts Boaz Okon) oversaw during the 2000s first decade the development of a new fraudulent case management system -- Net-HaMishpat - for the district and magistrate courts. Of note, on a previous inquiry, pertaining to security of IT systems of the Supreme Court, the Shin-Bet responded in a similar fashion -- denying any responsibility.

Therefore, misprision or collusion by justices of the Supreme Court in computer fraud in the Central Election Committee is not inconceivable.

It should be noted that in both cases -- the Central Election Committee and the Supreme Court - the corresponding agencies (the Committee and the Administration of Courts) refused to duly answer on FOIA requests: Who was charged with security of their IT systems.

Large-scale fraud in e-government in Israel -- unannounced regime change

Already the UN Human Rights Council Professional Staff Report in the 2013 review of Human Rights in Israel notes: "Lack of integrity in electronic record systems of the Supreme Court, the district courts and the detainees courts in Israel".

Report, which was presented and published in the 2014 European Conference on E-government, subject to double peer-review (due to its unusual content) was titled: "New fraudulent IT systems in the Israeli courts: Unannounced regime changes?"

Report, which was submitted for the 2017 European Conference on D-government is titled: "E-government in Israel -- transformation into the Post-truth Era". The report reviews fraud in Israeli e-government in the various branches of government.

Shin-Bet and the justice system: The case at hand is exceptional, perceived as role reversal"

The case at hand is unusual. The Shin-Bet appears loyal to the law of the State of Israel. Moreover, it appears to alert the citizens against serious fraud and breach of loyalty by state officers - attorneys and judges.

This is not the typical state of affairs. The Kav 300 affair and the Rabin assassination affair showed the Shin-Bet operating above the law and the justice system.

It should be noted that the Shin-Bet Act (2002) charges the Shin-Bet with protection of "procedures and institutions of democratic regime" - similar to the Secret Service in the US. However, the General Security Procedures Act (1998) in its updated form excluded the Shin-Bet from security of IT systems of key state institutions, such as the courts, the Knesset, the Central Election Committee, Ministry of Justice, Police, Prisons, etc.

Moreover, the role of the Shin-Bet in IT system security has been drastically crippled with the recent establishment of the National Cyber Authority.

It is possible that conduct of the Shin-Bet in this case in general, and the Shin-Bet's response regarding the Committee in particular, represent the unhappiness of the Shin-Bet with recent reorganization. According to media, the reorganization was implemented with inadequate legal foundation. It was also reported to result in unreasonable direct access and control by PM Netanyahu to a large array of critical IT systems. It is possible that the Shin-Bet felt it necessary to alert the public to its diminished duties and responsibilities.

Constitutional crisis in a nation with no constitution

Phenomena such as massive fraud in the justice and law enforcement systems, and the clear suspicion of a large-scale fraud in the Central Election Committee should be deemed "Constitutional Crisis". They raise serious concerns regarding the lawful authority of the current Knesset (parliament) and the ruling cabinet, headed by PM Netanyahu. However, there is no Constitution in the State of Israel.

Temporary focal corrective measures for the next general election: paper administration and international observers

Absent real solution for the problem at hand, the Israeli public should press for temporary, focal corrective measures for the next general election, whose date is always an unknown (in view of coalition crises).

Such measures may include the return to paper administration of the general election. The Netherlands plan similar measures for the March 2017 general election, out of concerns regarding security and reliability of electronic administration of the general election.

Additionally, Israeli authorities should invite international observers, for example, from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and its (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. The Office specializes in observing various national elections.

LINKS

[ 1 ] Zernik, J., Computer fraud in the 2015 election in Israel? Shin-Bet Head Nadav Argaman is asked to clarify

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Computer-fraud-in-the-2015-by-Joseph-Zernik-Election-Fraud_Shin-bet-170118-124.html

[ 2 ] " Athenian", Israel: "massive late-evening jumps in voter turnout as evidence of fraud", Daily Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/3/21/1372472/-Israel-massive-late-evening-jumps-in-voter-turnout-as-evidence-of-fraud

[ 3 ] Levi, D., Election Fraud (2015) -- the increase in Likud voters does not match the voters' turnout, as published by the Central Election Committee [Hebrew]

https://davidleviadv.blogspot.co.il/2016/06/2015_7.html

[4] Zernik, J., Israel: Fraud in the Supreme Court's computer systems - notice given to Supreme Court Presiding Justice, Shin-Bet Head

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Israel-Fraud-in-the-Supr-by-Joseph-Zernik-Israel_Judicial-Corruption-140609-730.html

Authors Website: https://www.scribd.com/Human_Rights_Alert

Authors Bio:

Dr Zernik's core research pertains to e-government and its significance for Human Rights and Civil Society.

His work won appreciation in Israel and abroad:
* Prof Uzzi Ornan - "All power to you! I hope that you see your tremendous efforts reach fruition!"
* Attorney Avigdor Feldman - "In my opinion you are doing very important work" thank you for your thorough and persistent work".
* Prof Amnon Shashua, Mobileye Co-founder - "" very important work".
* International experts, as part of anonymous peer-review - "" challenges current concepts in the field".
Four submissions, which he authored on behalf of Human Rights Alert - NGO, were incorporated into UN Human Rights Council Periodic Reports regarding the US or Israel (2010, 2013, 2015, 2018). His research has been presented and published in international academic conferences, including Data Mining (2010), Criminology (2012), E-government (2015, 2017), and were also cited in a textbook on "Machine Learning".
Online updated version: http://www.scribd.com/doc/46421113/