adzica 
A man on the run from Israeli justice lives in Belgrade, earns millions, builds the image of a president, and organises the export of ammunition to an active war zone. This is not a hypothesis — these are documented facts.
When we talk about foreign influences on Serbian politics, we usually think of Russia, China, or the European Union. We rarely mention Israel. And it is precisely the Israeli thread — concrete, documented, and financially measurable — that reveals perhaps the best example of what political scientists call a “captive state”: a system in which foreign actors use domestic institutions for their own interests, and the domestic leader allows this in exchange for political protection and personal gain.
The central figure of this story is named Yisrael “Srulik” Einhorn. But the story begins long before he arrived in Belgrade.
Ammunition: $182 million and 3,000 tons
From October 7, 2023 — the day Hamas launched an attack on Israel — to December 31, 2025, Serbia exported weapons worth over $182 million to Israel. The total amount of weapons transported exceeded 3,000 tons.
This data was not leaked by some anonymous source. It comes from the Republic of Serbia’s Statistical Office — a state institution tasked with recording foreign trade.
In parallel with these exports, Serbia has been importing weapons from Israel. In August 2025, Israeli defence giant Elbit Systems signed a $1.64 billion contract with Serbia — a five-year package that includes long-range precision artillery and missile systems, combat drones with artificial intelligence, electronic warfare systems, and advanced intelligence infrastructure. That’s 70% of Serbia’s total annual defence budget in a single contract.
This was not the first contract. In early 2024, Elbit sold Serbia artillery systems and drones worth $335 million. Then came a contract worth $1.64 billion. The Serbian Ministry of Defence did not respond to any journalistic inquiries about these purchases. President Vučić, in his own words, is “the only one” who releases information about weapons purchases and exports.
Who is Srulik Einhorn — and why does he live in Belgrade?
Israel “Srulik” Einhorn is not a classic political consultant. His biography resembles the script of a spy novel — except it is fully documented.
He began his career as a DJ and party organiser in Tel Aviv’s hipster scene. He then entered the world of political marketing and began working for Benjamin Netanyahu in 2019. He has participated in four of the Israeli prime minister’s election victories. Israeli journalists describe his methods as working with “alternative facts and inflammatory lies,” systematically spreading disinformation about opponents, and creating a “toxic atmosphere” in public discourse.
In parallel with his work for Netanyahu, Einhorn began working for Aleksandar Vučić. In Belgrade, he founded the consulting firm Insight Partners and later Perception Media. His task: “significantly improving the image of Serbia and Vučić” abroad – including in the United States and Europe.
Details of the campaign revealed by BIRN and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz cast a completely different light on what the public thought they knew about Vučić’s relationship with the Western media. Einhorn planned for Vučić to be a guest on some of the most famous American podcasts — Joe Rogan, Chris Anderson, and Ben Shapiro. A billboard was planned on Broadway in New York with the inscription: “Hamilton is beautiful, but Serbia is the fastest growing economy in the Balkans.” Foreign authors were hired to write affirmatively about the president. In December 2023, Einhorn published a column in the Jerusalem Post titled “Serbia shines through its president.”
What is the financial value of this work? Haretz determined that Einhorn’s company in Serbia earned $2.3 million from “services in the foreign market” alone in the period from April to December 2024. This is the period in which, as Haaretz himself notes, he “emigrated to Serbia.”
Why did he emigrate? Because the Israeli police were looking for him.
Cathargate, BBC Leaks and the Arrest Warrant
Einhorn is at the centre of two major scandals in Israel, which the local media is calling “BibiLeaks” and “Cathargate.”
In the scandal involving the leak of classified documents, Einhorn is suspected of participating, along with former Netanyahu cabinet spokesman Eli Feldstein and Jonathan Urich, in the theft and distribution of classified military documents — one of which ended up in the hands of the German newspaper Bild. In private messages exchanged via Signal, Einhorn and Feldstein discussed the classified document and called the Qataris “friends” — at a time when both were, according to investigators, receiving money from Doha.
In “Qatargate,” Einhorn is suspected of running a covert PR campaign for Qatar — a state that financially supports Hamas — during the active Israeli war in Gaza. At the same time, he worked for Netanyahu and received Israeli money. Three parties, three clients, three different interests — and confidential military documents in the middle.
The Israeli police issued an arrest warrant. Einhorn did not show up for questioning. Instead, he moved to Belgrade.
In July 2025, two Israeli investigators came to the Serbian Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade to question Einhorn. The details of that interrogation have not been disclosed to the public. Why? Because Serbia requested secrecy.
In January 2026, Israeli police officially declared Einhorn a “fugitive criminal.”
He still lives in Belgrade.
Ammunition, Einhorn and Montenegro: Operational role
Einhorn’s role in Serbia was not just marketing. BIRN, in cooperation with Haaretz, documented that Einhorn helped organise high-level meetings that were important to the start of Serbian ammunition exports to Israel via Montenegro.
This is a key detail. Einhorn was an advisor not only to Vučić during this period, but also to Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić. His parallel positions in two neighbouring governments — Serbia and Montenegro — allowed him to serve as a “bridge” for logistics that no formal diplomatic channel would have easily facilitated.
So, a man under investigation for stealing secret documents and working for a foreign power, wanted on an arrest warrant, lives in Belgrade, earns millions, builds the image of two Balkan leaders and organises the transport of weapons to an active war zone.
This is not an intelligence operation in the conspiracy sense — it is an operational network visible to anyone who wants to watch.
Elbit, drones and the question of purpose
Let’s go back to the contract with Elbit Systems. Value: $1.64 billion. Contents: long-range precision artillery and missile systems, combat drones with artificial intelligence, electronic warfare systems, and ISTAR intelligence infrastructure.
These weapons were not purchased for defensive purposes in the usual sense. Long-range missiles are not defensive weapons. Combat drones are not defensive weapons. Electronic warfare systems are not defensive weapons.
Military analyst Aleksandar Radić publicly asked the question that the government did not want to hear: “I asked the Israeli government, the Elbit company, and the Ministry of Defense, which had to approve every military deal, whether there were any clauses in the contract that would prohibit the use of these weapons against one of our friendly countries or NATO countries, for example Croatia, and they refused to comment on it.”
The question remains unanswered. The Ministry of Defence does not communicate with the media about these purchases. President Vučić has declared himself the only one informed — and the only one competent — to talk about it.
In parallel, Serbia, at the same time as it was buying these weapons, was exporting ammunition to Israel. The exchange is symmetrical: Serbia provides ammunition, Israel provides technology. Who mediates? Who organises? Who protects this relationship?
Einhorn.
“Agent of Chaos”: Israeli Journalists’ Assessment
Israeli journalist Yossi Melman, an intelligence specialist, gave an assessment of Einhorn’s work that is worth quoting in full:
“He is guilty of spreading false information about personalities and creating a very toxic atmosphere in Israel. I assume it is the same in other countries, such as Hungary and Serbia. Whenever there is a right-wing leader with tyrannical tendencies, they exploit that. They try to undermine the truth. They want to cause confusion among the public, so that the public does not distinguish between truth and lies and actually lives in chaos. So, in a way, Srulik Einhorn is an agent of chaos.”
“Agent of Chaos” in Israel — same agent in Serbia. Same client, same method, same consequences.
Now add to this the slogan “Better to be a teacher than a Nazi” — the slogan of the Serbian Progressive Party, for whose authorship students of the Faculty of Organisational Sciences directly accused Einhorn. A slogan that has divided the Serbian public for decades, normalised the comparison of political opponents with Nazis, and systematically poisoned political discourse.
“Agent of chaos” is a very accurate description in this case.
Vučić, Netanyahu and isolation
In September 2024 and September 2025, Aleksandar Vučić and Benjamin Netanyahu met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Netanyahu publicly thanked Vučić for his “strong support for Israel” and “unwavering friendship.”
This is important to understand in context. At the time, Netanyahu was indicted by the International Criminal Court for crimes in Gaza. Many European countries refused to receive him. Spain, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands — some of these issues were resolved by silence or outright refusal to receive him. World leaders avoided photos with Netanyahu.
Vučić took a picture. Vučić met. Vučić thanked.
At the same time, Israel has supplied Serbia with surveillance technology and intelligence systems. The value of these systems is not just military — they are tools for controlling communications, tracking citizens, and processing intelligence. These are the same technologies that Elbit sells around the world, including to regimes known for abusing surveillance systems against their own citizens.
A question that journalists have not sufficiently investigated: does Serbia use Israeli ISTAR and C4ISR infrastructure only for external defence, or also for internal surveillance?
Weapons for Gasoline: Moral Dimension
There is also a moral dimension to this story that we cannot ignore.
Elbit Systems is the company whose drones, hexacopters, and combat aircraft have been used in operations in Gaza. The United Nations and numerous NGOs have documented the use of this technology in airstrikes that have resulted in civilian casualties.
In parallel with the purchase of this technology, Serbia sold ammunition to Israel, worth 182 million dollars, weighing 3,000 tons. This ammunition was transported via Montenegro. There is a serious reason to assume that at least some of this ammunition was used in the armed conflict.
The Serbian Ministry of Defence has never answered whether the contracts with Elbit contain purpose clauses. President Vučić claimed in June 2025 that Serbia had stopped exports to Israel — but without verification, transparency, or parliamentary oversight.
This is not just a foreign policy issue. This is a responsibility issue.
Conclusion: Safe house
There is a diplomatic term — “safe house” — for a place where an operative can reside without risk of extradition or arrest, with the knowledge and tacit consent of the domestic authorities.
Belgrade, in Srulik Einhorn’s case, functioned exactly like that. A man under arrest in Israel, suspected of stealing secret documents and working for a foreign power, lives in Belgrade, runs a consulting firm, earns $2.3 million in eight months, builds the image of two Balkan presidents and mediates deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
At the same time, Serbia signs arms contracts worth over two billion dollars with a country in whose government this same man worked, exports ammunition to an active war zone, and protects the details of these transactions by invoking state secrets.
This is not an alliance. This is a relationship of dependency — in which Vučić receives political protection, money for propaganda, and security technology, and in return, he provides ammunition, markets, and silence.
And it is precisely this silence — of the ministry, the prosecutor’s office, the parliament — that speaks the loudest.
The text is based on BIRN investigative reports, reporting by the Israeli newspapers Haaretz and the Times of Israel, data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, public statements by participants, and Israeli police documentation. All of the above data is verifiable from the sources listed.
Prepared with the help of Claude AI (Anthropic).
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