Israeli couple from Lod, man from Bnei Brak are latest charged with spying for Iran

A couple from Lod were indicted Thursday on suspicion of spying for Iran. Officials said the two gathered intelligence on key national infrastructure sites and followed an academic figure at a security think tank that Iran allegedly intended to harm physically.

In permitting for publication the arrest of Lod residents Rafael and Lala Guliyev, both aged around 32, the Shin Bet and Israel Police noted in a joint statement that their case was the latest in a number of incidents of alleged espionage for Tehran that were made public in recent weeks.

Hours later, prosecutors also revealed that another man, Asher Binyamin Weiss of Bnei Brak, was indicted last week on suspicion of activities that involved tracking a nuclear scientist, who was the target of an alleged Iranian assassination plot uncovered when another suspected Iranian cell was caught.

Both the recent cases saw the suspects allegedly following security figures, photographing and filming their homes and cars and then sending the material to Iranian handlers who were seeking to recruit assassins, according to prosecutors.

In their statement, the Shin Bet and police said the Guliyevs were recruited as part of an Iranian network focusing on immigrants to Israel from the Caucasus region. They said the two were approached by an Israeli of Azerbaijani origin named in the statement as Elshan (Elchanan) Agyeiv, 56.

According to officials, Rafael Guliyev carried out surveillance tasks on security sites in Israel, including Mossad headquarters near Tel Aviv, and collected information on an academic working at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). Iran had singled out the woman to be targeted for physical harm, the statement said, without giving details or naming her.

Officials said Rafael Guliyev was also tasked with finding an assassin on behalf of his Iranian handlers and was assisted by his wife on a number of missions.

A Shin Bet official said the investigation revealed “once again the efforts of the Iranian intelligence agencies to recruit and exploit Israeli citizens in order to promote espionage and terrorist activity in Israel.”

An indictment was filed against the pair at the Lod District Court, revealing more details of the allegations against them.

Asking that the suspects be held until the end of proceedings, prosecutors noted that they “committed security offenses at a time when Israel is fighting one of the most difficult wars it has ever known, on many fronts, including Iran. They were aware of being agents of entities hostile to Israel and nonetheless continued to cooperate with them.”

Prosecutors said that Guliyev had been in contact with two Iranian agents since 2021. Over the years he also allegedly made his own suggestions of activities that the agents could find beneficial.

He received $600 for each day he spent following the INSS woman, and spent hours filming and photographing her home and car, according to the indictment.

Guliyev’s Iranian handlers told him to purchase equipment such as a dedicated phone, high-quality cameras and a laptop computer on which he installed encryption software. Communications were made via the Telegram app and encrypted applications, prosecutors said, with the Iranians urging Guliyev to be careful that the messages were not discovered.

The couple are also accused of photographing and videoing the Moldovan consulate in Tel Aviv, Israel Electric Coroporation sites, the Haifa Port, a water pumping state in Hadera, public bomb shelters in Tel Aviv and graves of victims of Hamas’s October 7 massacre. They were also said to have photographed posters of hostages held in Gaza that were posted near the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv.

In total, the pair received $26,000 from the Iranians, according to the charge sheet.

A senior Shin Bet official said in the statement that the spate of recent incidents showed “the efforts by Iranian intelligence to draft and take advantage of Israeli citizens for the purpose of spying and terror acts in Israel.”

A police source said the force will work relentlessly “against those conscienceless criminals who cooperate with the enemy and endanger the Israeli public.”

The INSS, in a statement, thanked the Shin Bet for foiling the plot. Institute chief Tamir Hayman said it was “not surprising that INSS people are a target for Iran and its proxies” as the think tank plays a leading role in security research.

Hayman said he was in constant contact with relevant security services and acting according to their instructions.

Hours later, the State Attorney’s Office reported it had filed an indictment against  Weiss, the Bnei Brak resident, on suspicion that he acted on behalf of Iran by tracking an Israeli nuclear scientist whom the Iranian regime sought to assassinate.

Weiss was indicted on charges of contact with a foreign agent, passing information to the enemy, and obstruction of justice.

According to the indictment, Weiss used a GoPro camera to video the scientist’s house and car. The Iranian agent sent the video footage to a young man from East Jerusalem who was tasked with assassinating the scientist. Seven East Jerusalem residents were arrested last month in connection with that case, which saw officials bust another alleged Iranian spy ring.

Weiss also allegedly carried out acts of sabotage such as setting cars on fire and spraying graffiti. He is also accused of posting hundreds of posters in Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan calling for civil revolt.

For his work, he was paid thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency, prosecutors said. In order to prove he had carried out instructions, he sent photos of his actions to his handlers, they said.

The seven suspects from last week, all men aged 19 to 23 from the Beit Safafa neighborhood in East Jerusalem without previous criminal or security-related records, were pursuing the assassination of an Israeli nuclear scientist as well as the mayor of a large city in central Israel, the authorities said in a statement at the time.

Six of those suspects are Israeli citizens, and the other is a permanent resident.

The suspects carried out various missions for their Iranian contacts, including posting graffiti demanding the release of Israeli hostages, vandalizing sites in Jerusalem, and photographing various locations, the authorities said. Then, upping the severity, the leader of the ring, a 23-year-old named Rami Alian, was asked to hurl a hand grenade at a security serviceman, though the attack never went ahead.

Alian was ultimately given a photo and address of a nuclear scientist whom the Islamic Republic wanted him to assassinate, and was told he would be paid NIS 200,000 ($53,000) if he succeeded, authorities said.

He allegedly began preparations, gathering information about the target, including his daily habits, whereabouts, and other personal information, but the cell was arrested before it could move forward.

The Shin Bet in recent months has announced a series of alleged Iranian plots, in which Tehran had tried to trick Israelis online into carrying out missions.

In September, seven Jewish Israelis were arrested on suspicion of spying on security figures and IDF bases for Iran.

They were accused of collecting information for their Iranian contacts about several Israeli citizens, including a senior security figure — whom authorities have not publicly identified — and may have been part of a plot to ultimately assassinate the figure. It was not immediately clear if that was the nuclear scientist believed targeted in the other case.

The suspects allegedly followed this figure, including taking pictures at his door, and also surveilled his children.

In September, a man from the southern city of Ashkelon was arrested on allegations that he was smuggled into Iran twice and received payment to carry out missions on behalf of Tehran, and was recruited to assassinate either Israel’s prime minister, defense minister, or the head of the Shin Bet.

Then, on October 14, a man and his 18-year-old partner, both from Ramat Gan, were arrested on charges they carried out various acts of sabotage and vandalism on behalf of an Iranian agent.

On October 16, the Israel Police and State Attorney’s Office announced the arrest of a man from central Israel, who allegedly acquired a weapon in order to kill an Israeli scientist on instructions from an Iranian agent, after performing several smaller tasks on the agent’s behalf.

Those recent cases came after authorities in January uncovered a scheme involving Israelis who were allegedly recruited to gather intelligence on high-profile figures.