Shin Bet says it’s recently foiled Iranian plots to assassinate Israeli officials
Iran working to recruit Israeli citizens online, security agency says, noting recent arrest of Ashkelon man tasked with killing top official; public urged to stay vigilant
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Shin Bet security agency warned in a statement Monday that Iran has increasingly been attempting to carry out assassinations in Israel, and that some were foiled in very advanced stages, with details not yet made public.
“In recent weeks, the Shin Bet has detected a significant rise in Iran’s efforts to advance assassinations against targets in Israel,” the agency said, adding that Iran has been attempting to recruit Israeli civilians to harm senior officials in the country.
The agency noted the recent arrest of Moti Maman, a 73-year-old Israeli man from the coastal city of Ashkelon, who was smuggled into Iran twice and was tasked with helping to assassinate the prime minister, defense minister, or the head of the Shin Bet.
The agency said Iran has also attempted to recruit Israelis online. The Iranian operatives locate Israeli targets on social media, including channels relating to cryptocurrency, finance, and job searching, the Shin Bet said. The Iranian operatives offer individuals a high salary to carry out various tasks, including “placing money or phones in various areas in Israel, distributing flyers, painting graffiti, and even setting fire to cars and physically harming people,” according to the Shin Bet.
The Shin Bet in recent months has announced a series of alleged Iranian plots, in which Iran tried to trick Israelis online into carrying out missions for Tehran, including a scheme uncovered in January in which Israelis were allegedly recruited to gather intelligence on high-profile figures.
It was also announced earlier this month that Hezbollah, the Iranian terror proxy in Lebanon, had sought to assassinate former defense minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon in a bomb attack in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park last September that did not cause any injuries.
The announcement of that Hezbollah plot came shortly before the terror group came under waves of attack, as operatives’ pagers and other communications devices exploded, in an assault widely blamed on Israel. This was followed by weeks of intensive strikes that largely wiped out Hezbollah’s leadership, including chief Hassan Nasrallah in a massive airstrike Friday in a suburb of Beirut.
The Shin Bet said Monday that it “asks the public to pay increased attention and take extra caution in any case where suspicion arises… especially when the sums involved are large and are not suited to the nature of the requested tasks, or… if the requested tasks are unusual.” It asked to report any such suspicious activity to authorities.
