Report on the activity of a foreign intelligence agency in Slovenia ahead of the elections

Twelve days before election day in Slovenia, videos began appearing on the website anti-corruption2026.com, a site with no listed owners, editors, or contact information, showing prominent Slovenian individuals during alleged business meetings. The organiser of these meetings was purportedly a British investment fund called Stockard Capital, and the intent of the publication was to portray the corruption of the current government and its Prime Minister, Robert Golob.

Before continuing, we wish to emphasise that corruption is unacceptable. If these publications have indeed revealed corruption, we expect the relevant authorities to investigate these disclosures and prosecute any criminal activity.

Inštitut 8. marec (the 8th of March Institute) noted upon the release of these undercover recordings that the method of publication matches patterns previously seen in election campaigns and other cases across Europe and the world, which were typically orchestrated by the Israeli intelligence firm Black Cube. The most well-known European examples occurred in Hungary and Romania, while the most notorious case involving Black Cube is that of Harvey Weinstein (USA), where the company conducted surveillance on prosecutors and journalists.

Key findings

The starting point of this investigation was unofficial information that on 22 December the president of the SDS party (Slovenian Democratic Party), Janez Janša, received several Israeli citizens in front of his party headquarters at Trstenjakova ulica, Ljubljana. Why did we decide to verify this information? While there is nothing inherently wrong with such meetings, as political parties worldwide cooperate with various individuals for protocol or friendly visits, this information took on a different weight given the activities that have recently emerged in the Slovenian space. Therefore, we used the Flightradar24 application to check if any private aircraft outside of regular commercial flights landed at Ljubljana's Brnik airport on that day.

Flightradar24 data shows that on 22 December a Hawker 800XP jet with the registration number 4X-CNZ, owned by Arrow Aviation from Tel Aviv, landed at Brnik. According to Flightradar24, the aircraft landed at the Ljubljana airport around 10.30 AM. It did not fly onward but remained parked. According to our data, there were four passengers from Israel on board who then traveled to Ljubljana. Based on the aircraft's departure time from Ljubljana, the visitors from Tel Aviv stayed for a meeting lasting approximately two hours.

However, only three passengers departed, not four. According to Flightradar24, the plane subsequently landed in Rome. Based on flight data, testimony from reliable sources (whose statements and identities are held by the editorial board of Mladina), and publicly available information, we successfully identified two of the four passengers: Israeli citizens Dan Zorella and Giora Eiland.

Dan Zorella is the co-founder and CEO of Black Cube (BC Strategy Ltd.) and a former high-ranking officer of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). In 2022, he was convicted in Romania (receiving a 35-month suspended sentence) for organising an attempt to discredit the head of the Romanian Anti-Corruption Bureau (DNA), Laura Kövesi, who is now the head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO).

Giora Eiland is the former head of the Israeli National Security Council, an advisor to Black Cube, and a retired Major General of the IDF, where he served for 33 years. He has been a member of the Black Cube advisory board since his retirement in 2007.

Black Cube (BC Strategy Ltd.)

Black Cube is an Israeli private intelligence company that began operations in 2010 (though the company itself states it was founded in 2011). Its website claims the firm has operated in over 75 countries, handled more than 540 cases, recovered $5.3 billion in assets, and helped clients secure $14.7 billion through judgments or settlements.

The private intelligence firm was founded by Dan Zorella (דן זורלא), a veteran of an elite IDF special operations unit, and Avi Yanus (אבי ינוס), a former IDF strategic planning officer with a PhD in organizational sciences from Technion. A former member of the company’s international advisory board was the former director of the Mossad, Meir Dagan (מאיר דגן), who served as the company’s president until his death in 2016. Current board members of note include: Efraim Halevy (אפרים הלוי), former director of the Mossad, Yohanan Danin (יוחנן דנינו), former commissioner of the Israel Police, Giora Eiland (גיורא איילנד), former head of the Israeli National Security Council and retired General Major of IDF, and Adrian Leppard, former Commissioner of the City of London Police.

Dan Zorella and Giora Eiland arrived in Ljubljana on 22 December 2025 for a meeting with SDS President Janez Janša.

How Black Cube operates

In the documented cases presented in this report, Black Cube built seemingly fully functional fictitious companies, registered entities with physical offices, websites, LinkedIn profiles, and email addresses, and maintained them for months before any approach to a target was made. The company operates by having its operatives assume false identities – posing as filmmakers, journalists, talent scouts, investors, or fellow activists – to secretly record meetings.