Judging by the wide variety of people, including women, who have sold their souls to the Iranian devil, almost any Israeli might now look at a neighbor and wonder: Could they be involved too?
It may take months, perhaps years, before Israel fully understands this phenomenon, one that we would like to dismiss as marginal but increasingly cannot. Every few days, it seems, another alleged spy is exposed.
More than 70 Israelis suspected of spying for Iran
(Photo: Shutterstock)
At first, it appeared that many of those involved came from the margins of Israeli society. Perhaps, one could speculate, they had never truly developed a sense of belonging. Perhaps some arrived in Israel as immigrants through marriages of convenience without ever tying their fate to that of the country.
But as time passes, those caught appear increasingly distant from that profile.
So far, more than 70 people have been suspected or convicted of spying for Iran. Roughly a third are immigrants from the former Soviet Union. About 20% are Arabs, broadly reflecting their share of Israel’s population. The remainder, around half of those involved, are veteran Israelis.
Some may not have understood, when they first established contact with an Iranian handler, that they were entering the world of espionage and betrayal. But in many cases, even after they understood whom they were dealing with, they continued.
The motive in nearly every case appears to have been money.
Many defendants have ultimately been convicted of relatively less serious offenses because prosecutors could not prove that they genuinely intended to betray the State of Israel.
Still, a review of the cases shows that at least 10 young people from long-established Israeli families were allegedly operated by Iranian agents while fully aware of what they were doing: assisting an enemy during wartime, spying and betraying their country.
Yes, money was the motive, not ideology. But the very fact that young Israelis are prepared to sell their souls to the devil for cash is chilling.
There is also every reason to assume that, beyond those already caught, others remain undetected.
That leaves an unsettling question: Is it really so easy to tempt Israelis into cooperating with the most dangerous enemy their country faces?
And why has this growing wave of collaboration emerged precisely as the Iranian threat to Israel has intensified?
One example is Iron Dome reservist Raz Cohen, who allegedly assisted the Iranians for four months before being caught in March 2026. By virtue of his military role, one can assume he had access to potentially valuable information. And given the steady exposure of new suspects every few weeks, it is difficult to argue that he could not have understood the gravity of what he was doing.
Ben-Dror YeminiPhoto: Avigail UziGreed is certainly a major factor. But something also appears to have gone wrong in the moral backbone of a segment of Israeli society.
Perhaps it is a failure of education. Perhaps it is the desire to become rich quickly. Perhaps it reflects a loss of faith in the country and its path. More likely, it is some combination of all three.
Israel is a society marked by deep and genuine political disputes. But there should be no confusion on this point: betrayal does not grow out of political disagreement, however bitter that disagreement may be.
The more serious problem is that we already know another arrest is probably only a matter of time.
What began two years ago has developed into a steadily rising wave. The only consolation is that the actual damage caused in most of the cases appears to have ranged from negligible to nonexistent.
The moral damage, however, remains.
And that should not be underestimated.