The “Choosing Life” (Bocharim BaChayim) Forum, which brings together bereaved families and victims of terrorism, filed a formal complaint today (Friday) with the head of the Shin Bet, David Zini. The complaint follows findings that allegedly suggest the use of a dedicated application called “Aswatcom” by key operatives within the Ra’am party during the elections for the 26th Knesset. According to the Forum, the system enabled the tracking of voter participation—broken down by individual polling stations—and the receipt of real-time reports. It is further alleged that parties from Ramallah with ties to the ‘Palestinian’ Authority were involved in the application’s development. Based on these findings, the Forum is demanding the initiation of a criminal investigation, the preservation of the relevant databases, and an inquiry into who operated the application and where the collected data was transmitted.
The results of a technical analysis conducted by the Forum indicate that the application was launched online on September 15, 2026—just about a month and a half before Election Day. More than 500 downloads were recorded on the Google Play platform; this volume suggests widespread deployment among the party’s field operatives, rather than the use of a limited or experimental tool. According to the complaint, the system enabled the activists’ operations center to obtain precise data on voter arrival patterns at each individual polling station, compile personalized lists, and direct efforts to bring voters to the polls. The Forum asserts that this practice stands in direct violation of the law and Supreme Court rulings prohibiting the tracking and recording of voters. The Forum emphasized the urgent need to examine the scope of information stored within the system’s databases, identify the users granted access to this data, and determine which external entities were exposed to the sensitive information of Israeli citizens.
Another grave aspect revealed in the complaint concerns the development and programming of the system. The Forum’s investigation uncovered evidence suggesting the active involvement of entities operating out of Ramallah—parties identified as having direct ties to the Palestinian Authority—in the specification and creation of the application.
The primary concern raised by the Forum to the head of the Shin Bet is that these entities did not merely provide technical assistance to Ra’am’s election apparatus; rather, they gained direct access to internal, statistical, and personal data concerning Israeli citizens on election day. This issue carries even greater weight in light of prior warnings from the defense establishment regarding foreign attempts to influence or fund the outcome of elections in Israel.
In the detailed letter… The “Choosing Life” (Bocharim BaChayim) Forum has demanded that the head of the Shin Bet (ISA) immediately order a comprehensive criminal investigation. This investigation should include the seizure and preservation of the application’s physical servers, databases, cloud backups, and digital activity logs, before they can be deleted or tampered with. Furthermore, the Forum has called for the identification and interrogation of the parties who funded the initiative, commissioned its development, and distributed it among party activists.
The Forum has urged a focused inquiry into whether Ra’am activists made illicit use of the application from within the polling stations themselves; which senior party officials were privy to the scheme and issued instructions for its operation; and to what destinations—whether inside or outside Israel—the data collected during the voting hours was transmitted.
The “Choosing Life” Forum stated: “These are grave findings that necessitate an immediate investigation. An application created specifically for the elections was allegedly used to track voters at the polling station level; moreover, evidence has emerged suggesting the involvement of entities linked to the Palestinian Authority in its development.” “We demand that the head of the Shin Bet investigate who stood behind the application, who operated it, what information was collected through it, and into whose hands that information fell. We will not allow any attempt to cover up a violation of the integrity of the elections. The Israeli public has a right to know that its elections are being conducted lawfully—free from prohibited surveillance systems and improper interference by foreign entities.”
The complaint regarding the ‘Aswatcom’ application arises amid a High Court of Justice ruling that prohibited party representatives at polling stations from transmitting information to their respective campaign headquarters regarding the identities of citizens who arrived to vote—a practice that had previously been facilitated, among other means, via the ‘Elector’ application. This ruling was issued by a panel of justices—Yael Willner, Alex Stein, and Khaled Kabub—who overturned a prior decision by the Central Elections Committee that had permitted the use of such a system.
The justices determined that the transmission of personal information concerning an individual’s participation in the voting process for partisan purposes infringes upon the right to privacy and lacks any legal authorization. This prohibition is not limited solely to ‘Elector’; rather, it applies to any tool used to transmit identifying information from within polling stations. Consequently, the suspicions raised by the ‘Bocharim BaChaim’ (Choosing Life) forum regarding the ‘Aswatcom’ application call into question whether the directives of this court ruling are being upheld.