'Private Mossad' goes after pro-Palestinian leader in Slovenia

Last Sunday, Slovenia held national elections, with Prime Minister Robert Golob’s liberal Freedom Movement winning by a hair’s breadth against the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) led by former Prime Minister Janez Janša: 28.54% to 28.17%. Weeks of tortuous negotiations to form a coalition out of a fragmented parliament likely beckon.

However, the real story of these elections is different: it’s a tale of foreign interference in the democratic process, and the weaponization of private intelligence, in an apparent effort to punish a European country for its policies. And it is a test for the European Union that the bloc appears to be failing.

The evidence appears compelling. According to investigative journalists in Slovenia and Politico, Dan Zorella — the co-founder and CEO of Black Cube, a private Israeli intelligence firm often dubbed the "Private Mossad" — and Major General Giora Eiland — a former head of Israel's National Security Council, now advising Black Cube — visited Slovenia on several occasions in recent months.

Black Cube insists it is a private entity with no ties to the Israeli government, but the line is somewhat blurred. A number of former Mossad directors, such as Meir Dagan and Efraim Halevy, have served on Black Cube’s advisory board. While that in itself doesn’t necessarily suggest a nefarious agenda – both Dagan and Halevy, for example, were supportive of the JCPOA, the landmark 2015 deal that limited Iran’s nuclear program, and Halevy even advocated for a broader detente between Israel and Iran — the deployment by a private entity of intelligence networks and expertise could clearly be used for harmful, and even illegal, purposes.

In July 2024, Eiland and Zorella reportedly met with Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli to discuss covert operations against American student activists critical of Israel's war in Gaza. Planning hostile activities against citizens of a foreign country in pursuit of geopolitical objectives doesn’t exactly look like “private business.”

But what would Black Cube’s mission be in Slovenia? Why target a small Balkan nation better known for its beautiful Alpine scenery than for being a center of international espionage intrigue?

Apparently, the mission was to help the SDS and Janša win the elections. The Black Cube stands accused by Slovenia of illegally wiretapping and leaking conversations in which ministers apparently discussed corruption and misuse of state funds. The aim of the leaks appears to have been to undermine the government and benefit Janša before the elections.

Indeed, Janša himself admitted to having met with Black Cube operatives. While he claimed he didn’t remember when those meetings took place, his amnesia begs the question: why would an opposition candidate in Slovenia need to meet intelligence operatives from Israel?

The answer may lie not in Slovenia’s domestic politics but in its foreign policy. Since the onset of Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza, Golob's government has been one of the most consistently outspoken voices in the EU, alongside few others, including Spain, Ireland, and Belgium. Slovenia has advocated for an immediate ceasefire, supported the International Criminal Court's (ICC) pursuit of Israeli leaders (including the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), and recognized Palestinian statehood at a time when many other European governments failed to do so.

Slovenia also banned imports from the occupied Palestinian territories and barred extremist Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich from visiting the country. Later, Slovenia became the first EU country to ban Netanyahu from entering the country and forbid all weapons trade with Israel.

When the U.S. and Israel resumed their war on Iran on February 28, Slovenia’s foreign minister, Tanja Fajon, condemned it as “unacceptable violations of international law.” She also condemned Iran’s retaliatory attacks in the region.

Is it a wonder, then, that Slovenia’s government could become a target for political neutralization?

Pro-Israeli operatives found a perfect ally in Janša, an ally of both U.S. President Donald Trump and Netanyahu. He dismissed his country’s decision to recognize Palestine as a step tantamount to supporting terrorism perpetrated by Hamas. Pro-SDS magazine Reporter ran a hit piece against Fajon (who was hosted by the Quincy Institute at a panel at the Munich Security Conference in 2026), calling her “Tehran Tanja” for her alleged failure to condemn Iran’s repression against its citizens in January. That, however, is a smear: the Fajon-led foreign ministry both condemned the repression and summoned the Iranian ambassador in Ljubljana to underline its denunciation. Nevertheless, Janša himself took to calling the foreign minister “Tehran Tanja.”

Janša is known for his support for regime change in Iran, which he expressed through his association with the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK), a violent cult that had been on the U.S. and EU terrorist lists until 2012 and 2009, respectively, removed following lavishly funded lobbying campaigns on both sides of the Atlantic. U.S. officials claimed Israel trained and armed the MEK operatives allegedly carried out assassinations of nuclear scientists in Iran.

Janša’s support for MEK landed him in hot water with the EU in 2021, during his last stint as prime minister, when he endorsed regime change in Iran at a MEK gathering. At the time, Slovenia held the rotating presidency of the EU, so Janša’s words were perceived as an EU position. This prompted a rebuke from the then-high representative for EU foreign policy, Josep Borrell, who made clear that Jansa did not speak for the bloc.

It is in this context that Israel’s interests and Janša’s ambitions to defeat the Slovenian government appear aligned.

Slovenia's Intelligence and Security Agency (SOVA) has confirmed that Black Cube’s activities constitute direct foreign interference. This prompted Prime Minister Golob to formally sound the alarm in Brussels. In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, he urged Brussels to investigate the Black Cube’s actions, warning that "such interference by a foreign private company poses a clear hybrid threat against the European Union and its Member States." He noted moreover that the case posed a "direct challenge" to the newly established European Democracy Shield, an initiative designed specifically to protect member states from foreign interference.

The response from Brussels has been telling. The same European Commission that is famously quick to attribute any whiff of political interference to Russian disinformation has remained conspicuously silent on the well-documented allegations of Israeli meddling. While Golob requested an "immediate threat assessment," no such assessment has been forthcoming to date.

The machinery built to defend European democracy appears to be selective in its application — quick to mobilize against Moscow but seemingly paralyzed when the interference originates from Tel Aviv. That, however, should surprise no one: Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen has been known for her staunch support for Israel, overstepping her own mandate by explicitly endorsing regime change in Iran.

This is not just an internal Slovenian affair. It is a test of whether the EU will defend its members against hybrid threats regardless of their origin. For Slovenia, which stood up for international law in Gaza and Iran when it was politically costly to do so — in opposition to major EU countries like Germany — the answer will determine whether EU member states can exercise their sovereign rights to chart their own foreign policy without facing covert retaliation.