An Israeli man has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or other senior officials after being recruited by Iran, Israel’s internal security service said.
The suspect, arrested in August, is a 73-year-old businessman with ties to Turkey who had been smuggled into Iran for two meetings to discuss the assassination of Mr Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant or the head of the Shin Bet intelligence agency, according to a joint statement by the Israeli police and the Shin Bet.
The allegations date back to April, when the Israeli – named Moti Maman – agreed to meet a wealthy businessman living in Iran for business reasons.
After being informed by officials that the Iranian businessman, identified only as Adi, could not leave Iran, the Israeli was smuggled into Iran from eastern Turkey, where he met with Adi and others, including a man identified as an Iranian security official, the statement said. It was unclear why Adi was unable to leave Iran.
The Iranians offered him tasks on behalf of Iran, including transferring money or a weapon, photographing crowded places or threatening other Israeli civilians operating on behalf of Iran who did not carry out the requested missions.
After his return to Israel, Mr. Maman was allegedly smuggled back to Iran in a vehicle in August. During that visit, Iranian officials asked him to carry out terrorist attacks on behalf of Iran and made proposals to assassinate Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Gallant or Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, as well as other operations.
The Israeli reportedly demanded a $1 million payment before carrying out the tasks, but Iranian officials refused the request, saying instead that they would stay in touch and pay him 5,000 euros to participate in the meetings.
Mr. Maman was indicted on Thursday. Mr. Maman’s lawyer, Eyal Besserglick, said his client had made an “error in judgment” and was cooperating with Israeli intelligence.
“We can already say that this is a person who has greatly helped the security services of the State of Israel, whose children serve in the security forces,” Besserglick added.
According to the Shin Bet, Iranian authorities saw the plot as revenge for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, and their efforts have intensified. Israel was widely seen as responsible for the attack, which came a day after Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut.
The Shin Bet said the latest arrest demonstrated Iran’s efforts to recruit Israelis to gather intelligence and carry out terrorist missions in Israel, including by using individuals with criminal backgrounds.
The allegations of an assassination plot come just days after the Shin Bet uncovered what it said was a Hezbollah plot to assassinate a former senior defense official, who was later identified as former army chief and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
Gallant said Wednesday his country was entering a “new phase of war” on Israel’s northern border as Hezbollah was hit by the second attack in two days that blew up thousands of walkie-talkies and pagers used by the group.
At least 20 people were killed and 450 wounded by Wednesday’s blasts, Lebanon’s health ministry said, just a day after 12 people were killed and nearly 3,000 injured by pager explosions in an unprecedented attack that Hezbollah blamed on Israel.
Israel has not commented directly on the attacks, but several security sources have said that Israel’s spy agency Mossad was responsible.
Additional reporting by Reuters
