Spyware reportedly found on phones of 2 senior Eisenkot campaign officials

Spyware designed to eavesdrop and extract sensitive information was recently discovered on the phones of two senior officials in Gadi Eisenkot’s election campaign, Channel 12 reported Wednesday. Because of the sensitive information the campaign handles for Eisenkot’s opposition Yashar party, campaign headquarters has recently implemented a strict security protocol, mandating daily cybersecurity checks and phone scans for some staffers, including its most senior officials. The report says the campaign’s private security firm found malicious software in two separate cases during those scans. Eisenkot’s own devices were not compromised, it added. The malware included wiretapping software and activity trackers, the Hebrew outlet reported. Eisenkot’s Yashar is set to become the largest Knesset party in October’s elections, according to most recent polls, just ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud. But the anti-Netanyahu Zionist parties are polling two or three seats short of a 61-strong majority in the 120-member Knesset. Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Newsletter email address Get it By signing up, you agree to the terms Despite the apparent breaches, Eisenkot’s campaign has not filed a complaint with the police, Channel 12 said, and instead opted to bolster its cybersecurity measures and continue conducting daily scans of senior officials’ devices. Channel 12 did not report who may have been responsible for installing the spyware or when the devices were compromised. Yashar party chairman Gadi Eisenkot and party members attend the launch of the Yashar party’s election campaign in Hod Hasharon, central Israel, June 30, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90) Politicians and their aides have been increasingly targeted by attempts to hack and install malware on their devices in recent years. In many of these cases, the efforts have been claimed by Iran-linked groups, though Channel 12 did not report a connection to Iran in this case. Advertisement In January, the Iranian-linked Handala group published photos and videos it said were stolen from the phone of former minister Ayelet Shaked. A month earlier, the group claimed to have hacked the phones of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff Tzachi Braverman and of former prime minister Naftali Bennett. In all three instances, the group released photos, videos, and documents that it claimed to have obtained from the devices. Bennett denied at the time that his phone had been breached, but admitted that hackers had accessed his Telegram account. Also in December 2025, Likud MKs Tally Gotliv and Moshe Saada informed the Knesset security officer that they suspected their phones had been hacked. Additionally, over the past two years, dozens of Israelis, including several soldiers and reservists , have been charged with espionage on behalf of Iran. In many cases, Iranian agents recruited Israelis via social media, specifically through Telegram, with promises of payment. Iranian handlers usually start their recruits with relatively mundane tasks such as vandalism or the filming of public locations, which then escalate into more severe, sometimes even violent offenses. Help us report truthfully on social media As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos. This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world. 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