By Lucy Adautin
Israeli police have arrested a citizen suspected of being recruited by Iranian intelligence to carry out assassination plans targeting high-ranking Israeli figures, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a joint statement released by the police and Shin Bet on Thursday.
“An Israeli citizen was recruited by Iranian intelligence to promote assassinations of Israeli figures. He was smuggled twice into Iran and received payment for carrying out missions,” the statement said.
The statement revealed that Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, and other senior officials were among the intended targets.
The arrested Israeli citizen, described as “a businessman who had spent considerable time in Turkey,” kept ties with Turkish and Iranian contacts. According to the police, these contacts connected him via phone to an Iranian businessman named Eddie.
They said the Israeli — reported by local media to be a Jewish person from the city of Ashkelon — first visited Iran in May 2024 to meet Eddie, after he had “difficulty leaving” Iran.
He also met someone called Hajjah, who was introduced as an Iranian security operative.
The police said he was asked during this trip to carry out security missions in Israel, including transferring “money or a gun”, taking pictures of crowded public places and threatening other Israelis recruited by Tehran.
In August, the investigation found, the arrested man was smuggled to Iran in a lorry. While there “he met with additional Iranian intelligence agents and was asked by them to carry out terrorist activities for Iran on Israeli soil, including promoting assassination attacks”.
Some of the proposed assassinations were characterised as being revenge for the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s death, though Israel has not issued any comment on the incident.
Police also revealed that the suspect was tasked with additional duties, including recruiting Mossad agents to act as double agents.
The Israeli citizen, after requesting a $1 million advance, received 5,000 euros for participating in the meetings and was informed he would be contacted again in the future.
“This is a very serious case that exemplifies the enormous efforts of Iranian intelligence agents to recruit Israeli citizens to promote terrorist activities in Israel”, a senior Shin Bet official was quoted as saying.
