EditKompromat and “black PR” against the government of Slovenia
Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob has requested that the European Commission investigate what his government is calling coordinated foreign interference
Israel is well equipped to pull the carpet from under the feet of a European government that criticizes its policies, writes Dušan Reljić.
Dušan Reljić is a European affairs consultant. He was the longtime head of the Brussels office of the German Institute for International affairs and security (SWP)
“Even in Europe, if a government supports the human rights of Palestinians and, together with its president, condemns US-Israeli aggression against Iran and demands respect for international law, it cannot expect to have a fair chance of being re-elected”. This is how a former senior EU official explained to me the nature of the on-going revelations, which are unfolding just a few days before the parliamentary elections in Slovenia.
Journalists and civil society activists in Slovenia have disclosed that Janez Janša, the former far-right prime minister of the country, was in contact with an allegedly private Israeli intelligence company specialised in political meddling abroad. Slovenia’s intelligence agency then confirmed that representatives of the Israeli private intelligence firm Black Cube had visited Slovenia four times in the previous six months.
According to Haarez, Israel’s dissident liberal newspaper, Black Cube founder and CEO Dan Zorella and company advisor retired Major General Giora Eiland had met in December the former prime minister Janez Janša, who is now trying to return to power.
A whole string of actions intended to harm the incumbent government then began. Such actions are known as ‘kompromat’ and “black PR” in Russia. An anonymous website appeared that purported to show that the current government is corrupt. Fake LinkedIn profiles appeared, operatives with false identities were used, staged meetings abroad set up and most digital traces erased.
Haarez writes that Black Cube was founded in 2010 by former Israeli intelligence officers. The organisation became embroiled in a scandal when it was revealed that convicted sex offender and Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein hired its services as part of his effort to discredit the women who accused him and the journalists who exposed his crime.
Zorella and two company executives were convicted in Romania in 2022 for involvement in an operation against the head of the country’s anti-corruption authority. In 2019, TheMarker revealed that the Ministry of Defence had contracted with Black Cube and that its employees operated from a military base.
Haarez also writes that it has become public knowledge that Israel’s Minister for Diaspora Affairs, Amichai Chikli, had met with Zorella and Eiland to discuss a potential covert operation targeting pro-Palestinian activists on US campuses.
Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob has requested that the European Commission investigate what his government is calling coordinated foreign interference. Up to now, only French President Emmanuel Macron explicitly supported him, calling it “clear-cut interference” by third countries.
The leader of the conservatives (EPP) in the European Parliament Manfred Weber has visited Slovenia to show support for Janša ahead of the 2026 elections.
Golob’s government recognized Palestinian statehood in June 2024, banned goods from Israeli-occupied territories, and barred far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich from entry. Janša, by contrast, consistently backs Israel, opposed the Palestine recognition, and launched a parliamentary Israel caucus, pledging to reverse Golob’s policy if returned to power.
Opposition leader Janša’s meeting with Israeli intelligence firm sparks election scandal in Slovenia
Caption: Screenshot of the home page of Black Cube, the Israeli private intelligence firm
Updated: March 21, 2026 - 13:17
