Prosecutors on Thursday indicted a 22-year-old soldier from Be'er Sheva on charges of contacting an Iranian handler and carrying out tasks in exchange for payment, while serving in the military.
According to the indictment, Rafael Reuveni allegedly communicated over recent weeks with an Iranian operative via the encrypted Telegram messaging app. The handler reportedly offered Reuveni various missions in return for money, which he accepted. The case was investigated by the Shin Bet security agency and the Israel Police’s Southern District serious crime unit.
Prosecutors said Reuveni sent the handler a selfie and his home address, receiving a small payment as a sign of commitment. He was later asked to send a photo of his military ID.
Among the assignments Reuveni allegedly carried out were filming a local park and a bus stop near his home, documenting activity inside a shopping mall and gathering details about the site. In one case, he was instructed to buy a pack of cigarettes and leave it, along with a 20-shekel bill and a note reading “Go to Jordan,” in a public park.
In another incident, Reuveni traveled to the city of Rishon Lezion to check whether a firearm had been hidden there by another suspected agent and whether it was real or a toy. After refusing to transfer the gun to another individual, he was told to move it to another location for a payment of 2,000 shekels (about $620). He was also reportedly asked to plant a mobile phone in a specific location.
The indictment also states that Reuveni shared information about his military base, including personnel estimates and emergency procedures, and pledged to update the handler if the base entered wartime readiness. He was also asked to provide names of others who might be recruited to Iranian intelligence.
In another instance, Reuveni was directed to collect a SIM card from a Be'er Sheva café, but failed to locate it. He was later instructed to purchase hydrogen peroxide, a task he did not complete.
Altogether, Reuveni received about $2,700 via a digital wallet, according to the indictment.
He is charged with contacting a foreign agent, providing information to the enemy and delivering information that could benefit the enemy.
Reuveni was arrested last month in a joint operation by the Shin Bet and the Israel Police’s Southern District counterterrorism unit. “This case is part of a series of recent incidents highlighting repeated attempts by hostile terrorist elements to recruit Israeli citizens to carry out missions intended to harm the security of the State of Israel and its citizens,” the Shin Bet and police said in a joint statement.
“The Israel Police and the Shin Bet once again warn Israeli citizens and residents against maintaining contact with foreign elements or carrying out missions on their behalf. Such actions constitute a serious criminal offense and endanger national security.”
On Sunday, prosecutors filed an indictment with the Haifa District Court against Shimon Azarzar, 27, from Kiryat Motzkin. According to the indictment, he exploited his partner’s reserve service to transfer classified information and footage from the Israeli Air Force base at Ramat David to Iran. Azarzar, who was reportedly facing financial hardship, initiated contact with Iranian agents via Telegram in exchange for payment. Their communication took place intermittently from October 2024 until his arrest last month, including during the recent hostilities with Iran and particularly throughout the 12-day war in June.
Azarzar allegedly carried out tasks using his partner’s personal cloud storage — she was a regular soldier at the time, later serving in reserves at the airbase. He is accused of extracting from the shared cloud images of control rooms, operational command systems, encrypted communication data and even drones. He transmitted some of the material to Iranian agents with whom he had been in contact for over a year.
Additionally, Azarzar reportedly passed on the full personal details of a police officer, offered to undertake further assignments for the agents and discussed the possibility of relocating to Iran with his family. For the tasks he completed, he received several thousand shekels in cryptocurrency. Azarzar and his partner were arrested in October. She remains in custody, and her case has been transferred to the military prosecutor's office.