Police reportedly forming new unit to tackle Iran spying cases
New major crimes unit division said being set up in coordination with Shin Bet, based on understanding that espionage ‘won’t go away’ and motives are mostly financial
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The Israel Police will reportedly form a new unit to handle cases of people spying for Iran, after the latest suspects allegedly hatched a plot to harm a senior Israeli figure in exchange for thousands of dollars.
The unit is being formed in coordination with the Shin Bet internal security service following the police’s understanding that such cases “won’t go away,” and that most offenders had contact with Iranian agents out of a financial rather than ideological motive, Channel 13 said Friday.
The unit will be placed under the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit and will both carry out the investigations and work to track down suspects, the report said. Investigations had until now been handled by various police units based on tips received from the Shin Bet, the report said.
Police have over the past two years arrested more than 50 suspected spies for Iran in roughly 38 cases that have been made public.
On Thursday, after a gag order was lifted on the case, the police announced upcoming indictments against four people suspected of producing explosives at an Iranian agent’s behest as part of a plot to “harm a senior figure,” widely reported to be former prime minister Naftali Bennett.
The alleged plot, unveiled amid the US-Israeli war against Iran, marked a relatively rare instance in which an Iranian agent managed to convince Israelis recruited online to go a step beyond spying or vandalism, and to begin plotting violence.
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 allegedly preparing to fly to Iran for training, and seven young men from Beit Safafa, an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem, who allegedly planned to kill a prominent scientist and a 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.
Charlie Summers contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.