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Two men indicted for spying for Iran, agreed to plan assassination plot

They were arrested on the night between June 14 and 15, the Lahav 433 National Crime Unit announced on Monday, with aid from the Shin Bet.

Two men from Tiberias, Yoni Segal, 18, and Nehorai Mizrahi, were indicted by the prosecution at the Nazareth District Court on Thursday for spying for the Islamic Republic of Iran, on the charges of contact with a foreign agent, espionage, and obstruction of justice.

They were arrested on the night between June 14 and 15, the Lahav 433 National Crime Unit announced on Monday, with aid from the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).

Per the indictment, in May, the two initiated contact with Iranian agents through the Telegram app. The agents, the indictment shows, presented themselves as “Kaplanist leftists” (in reference to the protest movement), and asked the two to commit several acts, including writing the words “Bibi [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] is a dictator” on a piece of paper and burning it. They were paid in cryptocurrency.

The two provided information about malls in Netanya, Tel Aviv, and Haifa

After several such acts, the agents instructed the two to purchase “operational cell phones,” blur their identities, and commit more serious acts. They were instructed to photograph and provide information about several large shopping malls - in Netanya, Tel Aviv, and Haifa - as well as Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. The two provided detailed information about where the security guards were located and how many there were, where the security cameras were located, and what the entry points were.

After a while, the agents offered to fly the two out to Iran to train for an assassination hit on a senior public Israeli figure, for NIS 200,000 each. They agreed.

 Canva, SHUTTERSTOCK)

(illustrative) A hooded figure conducting espionage for Iran (credit: Canva, SHUTTERSTOCK)

The agents also said they were interested in purchasing weapons and drones. Segal and Mizrahi presented themselves as people who had access to suppliers.

“Even though they understood very well that they were talking to Iranian agents, the defendants kept up the contact and even asked for more assignments,” reads the indictment.

It adds that one of them erased the messages on his phone to “obstruct evidence.”

The prosecution said, “At the very same time that Israel was fighting a war with Iran, the largest and most significant enemy of the Jewish State, these acts reflect nothing but complete contempt and mockery the defendants had to Israel's security and to public safety.” Dozens of such arrests have been made since the Israel-Hamas War began on October 7, 2023.

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