Ex-police interpreter indicted for sharing missile impact info with foreign agent

An Arab Israeli man was indicted on espionage charges after allegedly compiling reports for a foreign agent detailing damage and casualties caused by Iranian missile attacks, the Israel Police said in a statement Friday.

According to the indictment, 47-year-old Miqdad Modar Husseni Natur, from the central city of Qalansawe, came into contact with the agent, who went by the pseudonym “Abu Ali,” while searching for work last summer. Natur had previously worked for several years as a sign-language interpreter for the Israel Police, the Shin Bet security service and the courts’ authority.

He reached out to Al Jazeera on Telegram in hopes of being employed by the Qatar-based network as an interpreter, despite it being banned in Israel, but was rejected. Israeli authorities have accused the network of serving as a propaganda outlet for Palestinian terrorists.

Someone from the news channel then referred Natur to Abu Ali, and the two began to correspond.

At the agent’s direction, Natur opened an Arabic-language Telegram channel called “Breaking News,” where he would publish news items handpicked by the agent for a monthly payment of $250. This continued from September 2025 to January 2026.

For reasons unknown to the prosecutors, Abu Ali broke off contact with the defendant in February but reached out to him again after the outbreak of the current war, this time asking him to compile reports on damage and casualties caused by Iranian missile impacts.

The agent also requested information on water, electricity and internet outages in Israel, the locations and damage caused by missile impacts, emigration numbers and the mood of the Israeli public.

Though the agent repeatedly asked Natur to physically go to missile impact sites to document their location and the resulting damage, the defendant was unable to do so, and rather sent him news reports that had already been published.

When the foreign agent complained that the information was available in news reports, Natur offered to find other people to talk to in order to obtain unpublished information.

The kind of information that Natur was asked to find and provide “could cause real harm to the security of the state and its citizens,” police said.

According to the indictment, Natur systematically worked to conceal his activities, including deleting correspondence and using an anonymous Telegram account, as well as other means to keep the communication secret.

The Shin Bet security service and police conducted a joint investigation into Natur, and police eventually arrested him on March 9. He was indicted at the Lod-Central District Court on charges of maintaining contact with a foreign intelligence agent, espionage, and destroying evidence.

Prosecutors asked that he be held until the end of the proceedings.

In another alleged espionage case, indictments were filed against Yisrael Berkovitz, 20, and Orel Makitan, 25, both of the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Modi’in Illit, on suspicion of contact with a foreign agent.

According to prosecutors, for about a month at the beginning of the year, they were in contact with Iranian agents via Telegram and carried out activities at their instruction, including passing information. They presented themselves as a single person called “Orik.”

Among the information they sent was details on security checkpoints, and photographs of various intercity and inner city roads, including the road that leads to the Lod District Court. They also sent a photo of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, while providing false information about the picture itself. They were also instructed to visit and photograph the home of an army reservist lieutenant colonel, and sent the footage to the agent, prosecutors say.

According to the indictment, the pair, of their own accord, suggested additional activities. Even after the start of the war with Iran, Makitan allegedly continued to be in contact with an Iranian agent.

Prosecutors asked that they be held until the end of proceedings, noting that the suspects were aware that they were providing information to an enemy of the state.

Over the past two years, dozens of Israelis have been charged with espionage on behalf of Iran. In many of the cases, Iranian agents recruited Israelis via social media, specifically through Telegram.

Last month, police and the Shin Bet announced that an IDF reservist serving in the Iron Dome air defense system had recently been arrested and indicted on charges of spying for Iran.

Prosecutors accuse 26-year-old Raz Cohen from Jerusalem of being in contact with Iranian intelligence agents for about a month, and providing information about Iron Dome and other military sites to his handler during that time.

In 2025, a dual American-Israeli citizen was charged with spying on ex-IDF chief Herzi Halevi and on Ben Gvir.

The growing number of Iranian agents has even prompted Israel to open up a new wing in Haifa’s Damon prison for those indicted on such spying charges. Only one of the alleged spies has been convicted so far, as most cases are still making their way through the legal system.