A Jewish Israeli civilian was arrested last month after he was allegedly recruited by Iran to advance an assassination plot of Israel’s prime minister, defense minister, or the head of the Shin Bet, authorities announced on Thursday.
The Shin Bet and Israel Police said in a joint statement that the suspect was smuggled into Iran twice and received payment to carry out missions on behalf of Tehran.
The announcement came with Israel on the brink of all-out war with Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, after electronic devices held by members of the terror group blew up in a series of explosions, killing scores and injuring thousands. Earlier this week, Israel announced that Hezbollah had plotted to assassinate former high-ranking defense officials, one of them Moshe Ya’alon, the former Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff.
The suspect, named as 73-year-old Moti Maman from the southern city of Ashkelon, was indicted on Thursday, after which the Shin Bet revealed details of the investigation.
According to the Shin Bet and police investigation, Maman was a businessman who lived for lengthy periods in Turkey, where he had business and social relations with Turkish and Iranian nationals.
In April this year, Maman agreed, through the mediation of two Turkish people — named by the Shin Bet as Andrey Farouk Aslan and Junayd Aslan — to meet with a rich businessman living in Iran named Eddy, to discuss business activity, the security agency said.
Maman traveled to the Turkish city of Samandag, close to Syria, and met with two representatives sent by the Iranian businessman, according to the Shin Bet. In Samandag, the Israeli suspect and the Iranian held a phone call after the latter was unable to leave Iran.
In May, the Shin Bet said, the suspect went back to Turkey to meet with Andrey, Junayd, and Eddy’s two representatives.
After the Iranian businessman was apparently again unable to leave Iran to meet in Turkey, Maman smuggled into Iran via a land crossing near the eastern Turkish city of Van, the security agency said.
Inside Iran, Maman met with Eddy and another person called Khwaja, who presented himself as a member of Iran’s security forces. Maman presented himself as an Israeli citizen during a meeting at Eddy’s house in Iran, according to the investigation.
During that meeting, Eddy suggested to the Israeli suspect that he carry out various missions in Israel for the Iranian regime, including placing money or a handgun at specified locations, taking photos of crowded public areas, and threatening other Israeli civilians who were operating on behalf of Iran and did not carry out their missions, the Shin Bet found.
Maman said he would look into it and returned to Turkey and later Israel. In August, he returned to Iran for a second time. He was smuggled into the country via a land crossing from Turkey, while hidden inside a truck, according to the investigation.
The security agency said that at Eddy’s house, Maman met with Iranian intelligence officials, who asked him to “advance assassination attacks” on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, or Shin Bet head Ronen Bar.
The Iranian intelligence officials also looked into the possibility of assassinating other senior officials, including former prime minister Naftali Bennett, according to the investigation.
The Shin Bet said the assassination plans were seen by the Iranian officials as revenge for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran in July, which has been attributed to Israel.
According to the investigation, Maman asked for $1 million upfront before carrying out any of the tasks.
The following day, the Israeli suspect met again with the Iranian intelligence officials, where they again discussed plans to assassinate senior Israeli officials, the Shin Bet said.
During that meeting, according to the investigation, it was also suggested that Maman place money at various locations in Israel for others who are being operated by Iran. Other plans suggested in the meeting were for Maman to locate Russians or Americans and task them with assassinating Iranian dissidents in Europe and the US, and to recruit a Mossad member as a double agent.
Also in that meeting, Maman demanded a million dollars in advance, but the Iranian intelligence agents denied his request and said they would contact him in the future, the Shin Bet said.
According to the investigation, before leaving Iran for the second time, Maman was given 5,000 euros by one of the Iranian intelligence agents for participating in the meetings.
Upon returning to Israel in August, he was arrested by Israeli authorities.
‘Error of judgment’
Maman was quoted by Channel 12 news as telling investigators, “It’s good that you arrested me, I don’t know where it could have gone.”
A source with knowledge of the details of the investigation told the network that throughout the interrogation, the suspect did not deny the allegations. Maman’s lawyer said his client made “an error of judgment” and is fully cooperating with authorities in the investigation.
“We have not yet seen the investigative materials, so at this stage it is difficult to go into the details of the case,” said the attorney, Eyal Besserglick.
“It can already be said that this is a person who has greatly assisted the security services of the State of Israel, whose children serve in the security forces, and who made an error of judgment in the context of his business,” Besserglick said, adding that his client has “cooperated, and continues to cooperate fully with the authorities.”
A senior Shin Bet official described the case as a “very serious affair, which is an example of the great efforts of the Iranian intelligence agencies to recruit Israeli citizens to advance terror activities in Israel.”
The official said that the Shin Bet has assessed that Iran would continue its efforts to recruit Israeli civilians for spying missions and carrying out terror attacks, especially by contacting Israelis with a criminal background.
“At a time when the State of Israel is at war on several fronts, an Israeli citizen goes to an enemy country on two different occasions, meets with Iranian intelligence agents, and expresses a willingness to carry out serious terrorist acts on Israeli soil. His actions helped Iran and its intelligence agents in their campaign against Israel,” the official said.
The Shin Bet said that the suspect’s actions “constituted a serious security offense, even when the motive for the contact [with Iranian officials] is criminal or business-related.”
“The Shin Bet views with severity any contact by Israelis with Iranian elements. While the motive for the contact in the first place is a business pretext or criminal, it does not diminish the severity of the acts,” the agency added.
The Shin Bet in recent months has announced a series of alleged Iranian plots, in which Iran had tried to trick Israelis online into carrying out missions for Tehran, including a scheme uncovered in January in which Israelis were allegedly recruited to gather intelligence on high-profile figures.
Source » timesofisrael