Authorities enlisting rabbis, Haredi influencers to warn against spying for Iran — report

Israeli authorities have reached out to rabbis and ultra-Orthodox influencers to send messages to their followers not to spy for Iran, The New York Times reports.

Haredim have been involved in at least nine cases of spying for Iran, and enlisting influential rabbis is one of the methods being used by police and prosecutors to turn the tide against the phenomenon, the report says

The report cites one recent video by Rabbi Igal Cohen, a member of the Chief Rabbinate, in which he appeals to viewers not to spy for Iran.

“I am begging you, there is no greater blasphemy than seeing a Torah-abiding, observant Jew betray his people,” he says in the video posted to social media.

Israel Cohen, another prominent Haredi commentator who has broadcast warnings on his platforms, told the Times he “understood the need to warn against the danger and stop it.”

Mendel Unger, a Haredi journalist, published a video message in Yiddish, spoken by many in the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox community, warning against carrying out activities on behalf of Iran.

The security establishment has struggled to stem the phenomenon of spying for Iran, even during the recent war against Iran.

Most of the alleged spies are Israeli citizens contacted through social media by faceless Iran-linked agents, who promise money to recruits in exchange for their cooperation, though some have been foreign nationals in Israel on visas.