Israel has arrested a citizen who is alleged to have been coordinating with Iran to gather intelligence.
Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, announced in a statement that the man was arrested last month and indicted on Tuesday for “serious security-related offenses.” The identity of the alleged spy has not been released after an order from an Israeli court.
The man is accused of communicating with Iranian intelligence and providing it with information about ways to divide Israeli society, enlist Israeli Arabs to help Iran, and information about how to carry out attacks on Israeli targets.
Bet said in the statement that the arrest shows Iran’s efforts “to carry out spy and terror activity within Israel, this also at a time when the world is facing the coronavirus epidemic which has badly spread in Iran.”
Iran coordinates and finances certain Palestinian groups opposed to Israel as well as Hezbollah, a group that largely operated in Lebanon. The indictment comes after a senior Hezbollah counterintelligence official was found dead with gunshot and stab wounds. Iranian media has asserted that the Mossad was involved in the death.
