JERUSALEM, Sept 19 (Askume) – Israeli security services said on Thursday they had arrested an Israeli citizen suspected of involvement in an Iranian-backed assassination plot against the prime minister and other high-profile figures.
A statement said the man was a businessman with ties to Turkey who had met with Iran to discuss the assassination of at least Iranian Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant or the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency and was likely to have attended both meetings.
The arrests took place last month, according to a joint statement by the Shin Bet and Israeli police.
The incident highlights the ongoing intelligence war and escalating conflict along Israel’s southern border with Lebanon.
Last week, Shin Bet revealed that Lebanese militant group Hezbollah had hatched an elaborate plot to assassinate a former senior defense official, later identified as former army chief and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon.
The arrests were announced a day after Hezbollah’s second consecutive sophisticated attack , in which communications equipment was destroyed by a remote detonation.
The explosion of a handheld radio device killed at least 20 people and injured more than 450 others. A day earlier, hundreds of Hezbollah pagers exploded simultaneously, killing 12 people, including two children, and wounding thousands.
Israel has not commented directly on the attacks, but several security sources said Israeli spy agency Mossad was responsible.
Israel has a long history of conducting intelligence operations in Iran, including the alleged killing of Ismail Haniya, a political leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, at a government hotel in Tehran in July .
Shin Bet said the latest arrests showed that Iran was working to recruit Israelis to gather intelligence and carry out terrorist missions in Israel, including through the use of individuals with criminal backgrounds.
According to the Shin Bet statement, the plot began in April this year when the Israeli man, whose identity has not been revealed, agreed to meet a wealthy businessman living in Iran for business purposes.
The statement said that after the representatives told him that the businessman, identified only as Adi, could not leave the country, the Israeli man was driven from eastern Turkey to Iran, where he met with Adi and others, one of whom was identified as Adi acting as an Iranian security official.
The Iranians proposed that he perform tasks for Iran, including carrying money or guns, taking photographs in crowded places, or threatening other Israeli citizens working in Iran if they did not complete required tasks.
He returned to Israel but was smuggled back to Iran by truck for a second time in August, the statement said.
According to reports, during his second trip, Iranian officials asked him to carry out terrorist attacks for Iran and offered to assassinate Netanyahu or Galant or Shin Bet leader Ronen Barr, among other tasks.
The Israeli man demanded $1 million, but Iranian officials rejected the request and said they would keep in touch and pay him 5,000 euros ($5,570.50) to attend the meeting.
