JERUSALEM: Israeli police have arrested a citizen on suspicion of having been recruited by Iran to plot the assassinations of top officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the force said on Thursday.

“An Israeli citizen was recruited by Iranian intelligence to promote assassinations of Israeli figures. He was smuggled twice into Iran and received payment for carrying out missions,” the police said in a joint statement with the Shin Bet domestic security service.

Among the alleged targets were Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, the statement said.

Israeli media identified the man as Mordechai Maman of Ashkelon and said he was born in 1952, without specifying his birth date. The reports said he had been in custody since August 29.

The joint statement from the police and Shin Bet said he was “a businessman who lived in Turkiye for an extended period” and maintained connections with Turks and Iranians who introduced him by phone to an Iranian businessman called Eddie.

It said the suspect first visited Iran in May to meet Eddie, after Eddie had “difficulty leaving” Iran.

He also met someone called Hajjah, who was introduced as an Iranian security operative, the statement said.

The suspect was asked during this trip to carry out security missions in Israel, including transferring “money or a gun”, taking pictures of crowded public places and threatening other Israelis recruited by Tehran, the statement alleged. In August, he was smuggled to Iran by lorry for another visit.

While there, “he met additional Iranian intelligence agents and was asked by them to carry out terrorist activities for Iran on Israeli soil, including promoting assassination attacks”, the statement alleged.

Some of the proposed assassinations were characterised as revenge for the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, the statement said.

Iran and Hamas have accused Israel of being behind Haniyeh’s death. Israel has not commented on the killing.

The suspect was also asked to perform additional tasks, including recruiting members of Israel’s Mossad spy agency to be double agents, the statement said.

After asking for a $1 million advance, the suspect was given 5,000 euros for taking part in the meetings and told he would be contacted in the future, it alleged.

“This is a very serious case that exemplifies the enormous efforts of Iranian intelligence agents to recruit Israeli citizens to promote terrorist activities in Israel,” a senior Shin Bet official was quoted as saying.

The Times of Israel quoted Maman’s lawyer as saying he made “an error of judgement” and was cooperating with the investigation. “It’s good that you arrested me, I don’t know where it could have gone,” Israeli media quoted Maman as saying.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2024