Jerusalem man indicted for passing information to Iranian agent

Prosecutors indicted a Jerusalem man for alleged security offenses on Friday morning after he was arrested last month on suspicion of gathering intelligence for an Iranian agent.

The indictment was filed a day after reports that a group of men had allegedly agreed to manufacture explosives with the aim of harming “a senior figure” — reportedly former prime minister Naftali Bennett — and were also set to be indicted.

The State Attorney’s Office said it filed an indictment at the Jerusalem District Court against Moshe Lachovitz, on the charges of contact with a foreign agent, passing information to the enemy and other offenses.

According to the indictment, Lachovitz allegedly reached out to an Iranian agent, who identified himself as “Michael,” while looking for employment on Telegram.

Lachovitz was allegedly asked to carry out various tasks such as documenting and photographing sites across the country, including in Jerusalem and Ra’anana, where Bennett lives.

He was paid thousands of dollars for his actions, which were transferred to him in cryptocurrency, the State Attorney’s Office said.

The period in which Lachovitz was working for his Iranian handler included the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June 2025, the indictment said.

According to the allegations, Lachovitz did not immediately realize that “Michael” was an Iranian agent, but after discovering the truth, he continued to work for him anyway.

The State Attorney’s Office asked the court to order that Lachovitz remain in detention until the end of the legal proceedings against him.

A step beyond spying

On Thursday, it was revealed that prosecutors were preparing to file charges against a group of men suspected of manufacturing explosives at the behest of an Iranian agent, after a prosecutor’s declaration was filed against the main suspect.

Haifa resident Ami Gaydarov, 22, had been in online contact with an Iranian intelligence agent since August, until police arrested him last month.

Gaydarov “agreed to manufacture explosive material which was intended to harm a senior figure,” police said. He allegedly rented an apartment in the city as a makeshift laboratory to create and test the material.

Ynet reported that the senior figure being targeted was Bennett.

Police said he was assisted by others, among them Haifa residents Sergey Leibman and Edward Shovtiuk, who are also expected to face charges in the coming days. According to Ynet, two others who have not yet been named were involved in the offenses.

Gaydarov was also instructed to take photos of the Haifa Port and missile impact sites in northern Israel during the war with Iran, which is currently on pause after a ceasefire was declared earlier this week.

He received NIS 70,000 ($23,000) in exchange for the tasks he carried out, most of it in the form of cryptocurrency, police said.

The alleged plot marks a relatively rare instance in which an Iranian agent managed to convince his Israeli recruit to go a step beyond spying or vandalism and begin plotting violence against public figures.

The case was investigated jointly by the Shin Bet security service and the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit, and was previously subject to a gag order, parts of which were gradually lifted.

Over the past two years, dozens of Israelis have been charged with working on behalf of Iran. To this end, Iranian actors have been known to enlist ordinary Israeli citizens they meet online — usually via Telegram — to spy on such figures in exchange for money.

Agents usually start out assigning Israeli recruits mundane tasks such as vandalism, but their requests often escalate into serious offenses like espionage and intelligence gathering.

Most, but not all, recruits have been known to spurn agents’ suggestions that they assassinate Israeli public figures.

Exceptions to the rule include a pair of Jewish young men from Tiberias, arrested while preparing to fly to Iran for shooting training, and a group of seven young men from Beit Safafa, an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem, who planned to assassinate a prominent scientist and mayor of a major city.

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 espionage charges. Only one of the alleged spies has been convicted so far, as most cases are still making their way through the legal system.