On Wednesday, Israel took down an Iranian espionage ring that recruited women from social media sites and asked them to take photos of sensitive sites and gather intelligence. Furthermore, Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, arrested five Israelis for assisting an Iranian operative who pretended to be a Jewish man and gathered intelligence by making high-level contacts.
A statement released by the Shin Bet said that Iranian spies “manipulated” Israelis into working for Iran. It noted that several Israeli women “were approached on Facebook by a man named ‘Rambod Namdar,’ who claimed to be a Jewish man residing in Iran.” The agency arrested five Israeli suspects, including four women and a man, for sending photographs and other sensitive information to the agent.
Shin Bet added that interactions between Rambod and the women continued on Facebook and WhatsApp, and they even had video chats. The agency noted that one of the suspects, a 40-year-old woman, was asked by the Iranian agent to perform various assignments, including covertly photographing the American embassy in Tel Aviv, the offices of the Interior Ministry and providing instructions regarding a shopping mall in Holon.
The agent also asked the woman to “guide” her son to enlist with the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and serve in its Military Intelligence Directorate. “In addition, the suspect was directed by Rambod to gather intelligence about senior officials in the Israeli security establishment,” Shin Bet said.
“Iranian intelligence uses the internet extensively, and recently, we are seeing an increase in the number of similar approaches to Israeli citizens,” a senior Shin Bet official said. “The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) will continue to foil Iran’s intelligence attempts, including by monitoring its online activity,” he added and called on Israeli citizens “to be on the alert for unusual approaches or requests on the internet.”
Prime Minister (PM) Naftali Bennett congratulated Shin Bet and the Israeli police “on a successful operation that prevented terrorist activity against the State of Israel.” Bennett blamed Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for “never-ending efforts” to recruit Israeli citizens.
“These attempts go beyond security and intelligence; they are expanding to efforts to influence the citizens of Israel and Israeli society, sow discord and polarisation, undermine political stability in Israel and damage the public’s trust in the government,” the PM warned.
Israel and Iran have been waging a shadow war for decades in the Middle East and their conflict has spanned the region, including in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and Azerbaijan. Recently, both countries stepped up attacks against each other on land, sea and air.