By: Gašper Blažič
It is becoming increasingly clear that, just before the elections, our central intelligence service was grossly misused for partisan purposes.
Let us recall: practically on the eve of the elections, a narrative was pushed into the public claiming that recordings of conversations with certain well‑known individuals had been made by the Israeli agency Black Cube, allegedly commissioned by the SDS party, which supposedly had a motive for doing so. As a result, the public opinion trend shifted just before the elections; Svoboda regained first place, although it did not help, since Robert Golob still could not form a government. He can now brand the current coalition as “fraudsters”.
There is no evidence for the claims that were made
The elections are over, and the unpleasant details of the spin with which the supporters of Svoboda tried to secure another governing mandate are only now coming to light. It is clear that the details of the affair will have to be investigated. Everything began to unfold at the sessions of the parliamentary commission overseeing intelligence and security services (KNOVS). The now‑former director of SOVA – the new government has since dismissed him – Joško Kadivnik, admitted that SOVA has no evidence that the Black Cube agency actually made the recorded wiretaps. This information was made public by Žan Mahnič (SDS), a member of the commission, which angered the commission’s chair, Janja Sluga (Svoboda), who claimed he had revealed classified information, since Kadivnik testified “behind closed doors”, and Black Cube was not on the agenda. Unusual. In any case, Janja Sluga protested fiercely to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Zoran Stevanović, but once again the accusation focused entirely on procedure rather than substance, namely, that Mahnič disclosed something he should not have, while nothing was said about Kadivnik directly contradicting Robert Golob, who had claimed that SOVA possessed all the evidence, and SOVA did not deny those claims. Let us recall: after “that” press conference by Borut Mekina, Filip Dobranić, and Nika Kovač, the now‑former state secretary Vojko Volk stepped forward and rather unconvincingly presented SOVA’s “findings”, which were supposed to prove foreign interference in Slovenian elections. As Peter Jančič points out, the authorities preferred to ban Black Cube representatives from entering the country rather than apprehend them, question them, and bring them before a court.
All because of the South African lawsuit
But it is now apparent that representatives of Svoboda are worried about something else. For some time, it had been said that the previous government gave in to pressure when, at its spring session, it failed to vote in favour of Slovenia joining South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel for alleged genocide against Palestinians. It has now become clear that the key individuals who “held back” were most likely Vrečko and Robert Golob, apparently to prevent the publication of new recordings. Nevertheless, the representatives of the then‑ruling left strongly flaunted their anti‑Israel stance, adopted various sanctions, and even raised the Palestinian flag – which has not been displayed since the handover to the current government. The sanctions have also been dropped. Shortly before that, in its final days, Golob’s government refused landing permission to a passenger plane from Israel that wanted to land in Ljubljana. In short, a lot of populism, and in the background a strong “ugh” toward the previous coalition. When MP Mahnič spoke up on this topic, panic erupted completely. It became clear that the police would also have to explain what role it had in the Black Cube affair, since no one addressed the actual content of the recordings – everyone focused only on who recorded them and who published them.
Who really influenced the campaign?
And what did Mahnič say earlier this month? Let’s take a look. “Because there is not a single piece of evidence, colleagues – not a single piece of evidence – and this is what those of us who were yesterday (actually two weeks ago, when Kadivnik attended the KNOVS session for the last time as director of SOVA) at the Commission for the Oversight of Intelligence and Security Services heard: that these recordings were made by the Black Cube agency. Anyone could have recorded them; they could have been recorded by some other Israeli service, because, look, I am convinced that it would be much more in Israel’s interest to have a prime minister whom you can hold – we know with what – through recordings, rather than someone whose foreign minister said at the hearing that Slovenia would act in accordance with international law. And what happens? When the government withdraws from the lawsuit, the recordings stop being published, and it is said that some very interesting individuals were also on those recordings. Now, whether we will ever see them or not – I hope we will, but I doubt it.” He added that he is very much looking forward to the conclusion of the Black Cube affair, and he reminded everyone of what happened in the public opinion polls during the last week before the elections. “Believe me, if all early‑voting polling stations had been lawful and if all our compatriots around the world had received their ballots, SDS would still have been the winner on Sunday at seven in the evening.” The response from the chair of KNOVS, of course, came quite late.
They are worried about the epilogue of the affair
In connection with the accusation by the chair of KNOVS that he had exceeded his authority, Mahnič again pointed out early last week that there was no disclosure of classified information, since SOVA has nothing in its possession that could sustain the Black Cube narrative any further. As Požareport reported, several individuals confirmed the news of Kadivnik’s shocking admission, meaning that Janja Sluga is, in this case, firing blanks. Legislation clearly defines when the disclosure of classified information occurs. Mahnič also announced that he would call on the new director of SOVA, Janez Stušek, to remove the “classified” designation from everything related to Black Cube. He further accused the now‑former director of SOVA, Joško Kadivnik, of having been “Robert Golob’s main PR man during the last week of the election campaign”. In short, once all the details of the Black Cube construct become known, it will become clear how dirty the methods of the transitional left were. As Požareport notes, they will now try to reduce embarrassment and shame by shifting attention to the clash between Sluga (Svoboda) and Mahnič (SDS). Typical…