Israel Police announced overnight that two Israeli citizens were arrested Saturday in a joint investigation with the Shin Bet security agency on suspicion of committing security offenses under Iranian direction. The arrests came a day after Israel launched its initial strikes against Iran as part of Operation Rising Lion. A gag order remains in place on the full details of the case.
This is not the first recent incident involving alleged collaboration between Israelis and Iranian operatives. Just three days before the war began, a 13-year-old boy from Tel Aviv was arrested by the Shin Bet and Tel Aviv District Police for allegedly carrying out tasks for Iranian agents.
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Satellite images of the Nevatim base, Iranian flag and missile launch
(Photos: AP; Majdi Mohammed/AP, Planet Labs Inc./Handout via Reuters)
According to a joint police and Shin Bet statement, the boy was contacted through the Telegram messaging app by individuals affiliated with Iran and was offered payment in exchange for completing various assignments. He agreed to their requests, spraying graffiti at several locations in Tel Aviv as instructed, and received payments via a digital wallet. He was also asked to photograph Iron Dome missile defense systems but did not follow through.
Following his questioning by the police fraud division, the teen was placed under five days of house arrest. His parents were informed throughout the investigation. He admitted to the graffiti and expressed remorse. He was also asked to photograph the home of Israeli politician Gideon Sa’ar and to set fire to electrical cabinets, but did not carry out those actions.
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Last month, formal charges were filed against Roy Mizrahi and Almog Atias, both 25 and from the northern city of Nesher, for allegedly carrying out a series of intelligence-gathering tasks for agents operating on behalf of Iranian intelligence services. According to the indictment, they were instructed to install surveillance cameras across Israel and to transfer various “objects.”
Roughly two weeks later, Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen network, affiliated with the Shiite axis and Hezbollah, reported that “Iranian intelligence has obtained a vast amount of sensitive strategic documents and information related to Israel.”