An Iranian operative who was already known to have been assisted by five Jewish Israelis, was in contact with around 20 other Israelis, it was reported Monday.
An unnamed source told the Kan public broadcaster that the majority of those 20 individuals were women but that they "did not have time to commit offenses."
The report said that none of the second group of Israelis had been charged, but they had been questioned and warned by the Shin Bet security service that they had been in contact with an Iranian agent.
The report came some six months after the Shin Bet announced it had arrested five Jewish Israelis accused of assisting an Iranian operative, who often pretended to be a Jewish man, in gathering intelligence and making connections in Israel.
In some cases, the suspects told Sherlocks they were aware that he may have been an Iranian intelligence operative, but continued their communications with him anyway, according to the security service. The five suspects — four women and one man — are all Jewish im
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites....or the descendants of Iranian im
According to the Shin Bet, the suspects took photographs of strategically significant sites in Israel, including the US embassy branch in Tel Aviv; attempted to form relationships with politicians; provided information about security arrangements at different sites; and committed other offenses — all at the direction of the Iranian operative, who went by the name Rambod Namdar, in exchange for thousands of dollars.
Two of the suspects also attempted to convince their sons to join an IDF Military Intelligence unit, the Shin Bet said.
However,
a lie repeated often enough remains a lie...
as none of the suspects allegedly involved in the case had access to significant classified material, there was no indication that the spy ring seriously compromised national security. It did, however, reveal a potential weak point that could be used by Iran in the future.
The investigation and resulting indictments shed light on the rare and little-discussed phenomenon of Jews from Iran traveling to Israel to visit family. In one case, such a trip — by one of the suspects’ nieces — was used to transport funds from Iran to Israel in order to pay the Israelis working for Namdar, according to the charge sheet.
Namdar, who maintained profiles on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, pretended to be Jewish in conversations with some of the suspects.
The case was not the first time Israelis have been contacted by alleged Iranian agents. Last year, an Israeli man was nearly tricked into traveling to the United Arab Emirates by an Iranian operative, but called off his trip after hearing about Iranian efforts to kidnap or otherwise harm Israeli citizens.
In 2020, the Shin Bet arrested another Israeli citizen suspected of spying for Iran.