The Israeli importer of Nokia products reported a 200% increase in recent sales of dumb phones, Army Radio reported this week.

Following the shocking allegations against Israel Police of illegally hacking into private citizens’ phones, fears of being spied on are apparently driving many Israelis to seek safer alternatives than smartphones.

Walla News reported that over 4,000 Nokia phones were purchased over the past three days. Normally, between 1,000-2,000 phones are purchased in one week.

Liav Ron, the Nokia brand manager at the H.Y. Group, told Walla that “there’s been a jump in the sale of older-generation phones… simple phones that have seen a crazy increase in sales. It came out of nowhere.”

Until now, virtually the only Nokia customers were Chareidim and some parents who purchase the phones for their young children.

Additionally, there are some holdouts who eschew smartphones for various reasons, including Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who has been involved in his own criminal woes in the past. Another famous Israeli who uses a dumb phone is popular religious singer Chanan Ben-Ari.

Lieberman wrote on Twitter on Monday: “It’s already years that everyone asks me how I manage without a smartphone – today everyone understands that I manage wonderfully!”

כבר שנים שכולם שואלים איך אני מסתדר בלי סמארטפון – היום כולם מבינים שאני מסתדר מצוין! pic.twitter.com/nC5HFOTDkv

— אביגדור ליברמן (@AvigdorLiberman) February 7, 2022

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)