Man sentenced to 13.5 years in jail for Iran espionage; 4 from East Jerusalem admit to part in separate plot

The Lod District Court sentences Petah Tikva resident Alexander Granovsky to 13.5 years in prison for spying, vandalism and arson in late 2024 on behalf of Iran.

Separately, the Jerusalem District Court convicts four Palestinians from East Jerusalem who admit, as part of a plea deal, to participating in another late 2024 Iranian espionage scheme in exchange for money. Their punishments will be determined later.

Granovsky, in his 30s, was found guilty of spray-painting anti-government slogans, setting nine cars on fire and stalking the neighborhood of former IDF chief Benny Gantz in exchange for money from an Iranian agent. His is the harshest sentence yet against a person convicted of acting on behalf of Iran, the Central District Attorney’s Office says.

The court says the heavy punishment serves to “inform anyone who is tempted to act on behalf of a hostile entity in exchange for money, that they can expect a lengthy and unbearable jail sentence.”

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem court convicts brothers Mahmoud and Mamdouh Hader, 23 and 21, respectively; Omari Abu Hamida, 21; and Muhammad Taha, 21 of a separate plot. All but Taha are Israeli citizens. They and three other Israeli citizens from Beit Safafa were arrested in September 2024.

Proceedings are ongoing against the three other suspects, who include the alleged lead intermediary with the Iranian agent.

According to the plea deal, Abu Hamida and the younger Hader traveled with some of the other suspects to the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot and learned while there of an Iranian plot to assassinate an Israeli scientist. They are convicted of failure to prevent a terrorist act for their inaction.

The elder Hamida is convicted of aiding and abetting contact with a foreign agent for offenses including procuring a fake police license plate in order to produce a video of a purported attack on an Israeli police car.

Taha is also convicted of aiding and abetting contact with a foreign agent after he sent the Iranian agent, via the alleged intermediary, a video purporting to show a grenade being thrown at a Jewish home. The home was actually an empty house in the West Bank Palestinian village of Qatanna, near Jerusalem.