A gag order on Tuesday was lifted on an Iranian spy case in which Iranian intelligence operatives recruited a Beit Shemesh chassid to carry out activities to harm the security of Israel.

In a joint investigation by the Shin Bet and Israel Police’s Lahav 433 unit, three Israeli citizens were arrested for questioning in the past two weeks for allegedly carrying out security-related activities in Israel under the direction of Iranian intelligence agents.

The investigation revealed that the main suspect, E.S., a 21-year-old Chassidish resident of Beit Shemesh, was communicating with a contact named Anna Elena on Telegram, who asked him to carry out various tasks, including setting fires in a forest, delivering packages to Israelis containing decapitated stuffed animals and dolls with a knife and a threatening message, burying money at various points in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and hanging signs in Tel Aviv.

S. agreed to carry out some of the tasks for financial remuneration but refused requests to carry out murder and arson. He received payment from Anna Elena in cryptocurrency and recruited two Israeli citizens to help him carry out the tasks.

The Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office submitted an indictment against S. on Tuesday, charging him with the crime of contact with a foreign agent. The two Israelis recruited by S. were interrogated and released from custody at the end of their investigation pending a decision on their case.

“The use of the method of contacting Israeli citizens through social networks under a false identity is a well-known method of operation of the Iranian intelligence agencies,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.

In recent months, the police have discovered and monitored many fictitious profiles used by Iranian intelligence agents.

The same inquiries were made through social platforms as well as through websites that offer occasional paid jobs, with the activity taking place on all social networks, including Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter (X). The inquiries were made in different languages, including Hebrew and English.

In addition, the sending of widely distributed text messages with a similar cover was detected, which includes a link leading to the Telegram channel and a reference to the website of the “International Security Agency of Iran.”

Many Israeli citizens who received these suspicious inquiries avoided responding to them and even alerted relevant authorities about them.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)