When Israel interferes in Slovenia's affairs

Slovenia still in front! This is at least how the citizens of the countries of the former Yugoslav Socialist Federal Republic (SFRY) perceive it. The small Alpine country was the first to become independent in 1991, and its brief war for independence claimed far fewer victims than those that followed in Croatia, Bosnia, and later in Kosovo. Neighboring countries behind this republic have always lagged behind since socialist Yugoslavia: Slovenia was the wealthiest, most liberal on social issues, and the most "Western." Today, it also ranks among the leading countries in supporting Palestine.

Some Slovenians assess the Palestinian issue, including Palestinian efforts for self-determination, based on their own history. Sometimes, the engagement of Palestinians is also linked to the role played by Yugoslavia in the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement, which sought to promote a political line independent of the United States and the Soviet Union.1 In 2024, an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana recalled how Yugoslavia hosted the first summit of the movement in 1961 and subsequently provided scholarships to young Palestinians to study at its universities (by the early 1970s, up to 43% of foreign students were from Palestine). In 1971, the first Office of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Europe was also opened in Belgrade.2

Last summer, Ljubljana boasted that it was the first European capital to impose an embargo on the sale of weapons to Tel Aviv. The government led by Robert Golob then expressed regret that "due to internal disagreements and divisions, the European Union appears powerless." 3 A year earlier, Slovenia recognized the independence of the Palestinian state. Slovenian public broadcaster recently announced that due to Israel's participation, they will boycott the Eurovision Song Contest and instead broadcast Palestinian films.

Black Cube or "private Mossad"

Despite being a small country (with a population of only 2.1 million and an area half the size of Switzerland), Tel Aviv is not indifferent to its initiatives. On March 16, 2026 – a week before the key parliamentary elections – the Slovenian magazine Mladina reported that employees of the well-known Israeli intelligence company Black Cube (also called the private Mossad) allegedly met in December 2025 with the then leader of the right-wing opposition, Janez Janša, from the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS).4 Janša, an avid admirer of Israel, has been at the forefront of Slovenian politics for over thirty-five years. He served as Prime Minister three times until he was replaced in May 2022 by Robert Golob of the liberal Movement for Freedom (GS).

Representatives of Black Cube even visited the Slovenian capital several times during the past winter. In December, they were part of an Israeli delegation that met with Janša, including Dan Zorella, the general director of the company, and seasoned adviser and retired Major General Giora Eiland (former head of the Israeli National Security Council). Subsequently, in February and March, Black Cube sent agents to the country posing as investors from a fictitious British company called Stockard Capital to establish contact with government officials. The "targets," invited to a lavish dinner, were secretly recorded, and videos of these conversations appeared in early March on an anonymous website in English. Although Janša claims that these recordings reveal "unprecedented corruption of the left-wing elite" (Euronews, March 18, 2026), in reality, they only show people spreading rumors about various political figures, boasting about their political influence, and offering advice to fake investors.

Initially, it seemed that the operation turned against its perpetrators. Although from February to early March, public opinion polls showed SDS leading over GS, after the Black Cube operation was exposed in mid-March, the situation reversed. In the elections on March 22, the GS party ultimately won, albeit by a narrow margin. If Mladina had not uncovered this operation, the issue of alleged corruption within the victorious party would likely have dominated the entire pre-election campaign. The Slovenian case demonstrates that foreign interference can sometimes be decisive, but other times uncertain or even counterproductive. Ultimately, Golob abandoned his attempt to form a new government on April 20, and on May 18, Janša announced that he had managed to reach a coalition agreement. A fortunate coincidence for Israel, which after the defeat of Fidesz in the Hungarian elections on April 12, lost its best "shield" in Europe. Until then, Tel Aviv could rely on Viktor Orbán, who was always ready to exercise veto rights in favor of Israel – as in February, when twenty-six of the twenty-seven EU member states voted for sanctions against settlers from the West Bank.

Slovenia under Janša's leadership could now play a similar role to Orbán's Hungary. However, other unanswered questions remain. On March 12, just a few days before the elections, Golob's government announced that it would not join the lawsuit for genocide filed by Pretoria (South Africa) against Tel Aviv at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). This decision was unexpected, and given its timing, many Slovenians wondered whether Israel had influenced it. Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon admitted that "external pressure exists." 5 But what exactly? The vote on the lawsuit at the ICJ took place behind closed doors during a ministers' meeting. Fajon also stated that concerns about potential "security risks" influenced the final decision. While Golob was informed about the risks that could threaten Slovenia if it joined actions against Israel at the ICJ, people from the national security environment reportedly also warned him about the risk of Slovenia becoming dependent on Israeli cybersecurity systems, which have been supplied to the country by Check Point for fifteen years.6.

"Check Point not only uses the Ministry of Defense but also the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry for Digital Transformation," explains Emilija Stojmenova Duh, who led the last-mentioned ministry from 2022 to 2024. She also added that she herself did not sign any contract for Israeli software procurement. The empire of Check Point extends across the entire continent. Co-founder of the company and partner of the World Economic Forum Gil Shwed is a veteran of Unit 8200, the notorious Israeli military intelligence service. The current CEO, Nadav Zafrir, is a former commander of this agency, who allegedly contributed to planning and executing a pager attack against Hezbollah in September 2024. As reported on the Open Intel website, "the leadership of Check Point is practically integrated into the structure of Israeli military intelligence."7

European Union remains silent

An individual involved in the case, who wishes to remain anonymous, describes recurring concerns that have arisen within the Slovenian leadership whenever decisions regarding Palestine are made. This is confirmed by two other persons with good contacts in these circles. For example, in May 2024, when Slovenia was about to recognize Palestine: security services allegedly warned the government about possible cyber threats in case of a conflict with Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Golob ultimately decided to take the risk so as not to alienate voters before the upcoming European Parliament elections in June. Domestic politics, or political games, thus seem to be able to balance foreign pressure and mitigate its impact.

This year, security services issued further similar warnings. The release of recordings by Black Cube and fears that more will follow allegedly increased pressure on politicians. According to several involved persons, this would explain the decision not to join the lawsuit filed at the ICJ. Golob and some of his supporters, however, claim that the published videos had no influence on their decision8: they were published only after the announcement that Ljubljana would not join the initiative, and the people appearing in the videos were not close to the Prime Minister. As Golob explains (Mladina, March 20, 2026), in fact, Slovenia's participation in the process at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) could jeopardize its separate proceedings against Netanyahu at the International Criminal Court (ICC), where a Slovenian judge is active. This is an argument that has become the target of mockery on social media as an attempt to present capitulation as brave support for Palestine...

Whatever we make of these undoubtedly quite unclear events, the case of small Slovenia is instructive in any case. It shows that Israel exerts various forms of pressure on states, even those thousands of kilometers from its borders. Black Cube continues to operate without any penalty, and the European Union remains silent in the face of interference in Slovenia's internal affairs. This is in stark contrast to the wave of outrage that systematically accompanies suspicions of interference directed from Russia. An example is the Romanian presidential elections of 2024, which were annulled due to alleged influence from Moscow, though this has not been proven to date.9 Similarly, the recent elections in Moldova (2025) were accompanied by numerous warnings about the risk of Russian influence. The country was even visited by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. It seems that not all foreign interventions are judged equally.

The author is a journalist

Translated by Peter Žiak