The Israeli police on Thursday arrested an Israeli couple on charges of spying for Iran, just days after two other groups were detained for allegedly working with Tehran. “The thwarting of Iran’s efforts to recruit Israelis continues,” a statement from the Israeli Police and Shin Bet, the country’s internal security agency, said.
According to the statement, the arrested couple gathered intelligence on “national infrastructures, security sites, and tracking a female academic”. “Rafael and Lala Goliev… residents of Lod, were arrested after they carried out tasks on behalf of an Iranian cell that recruits Israelis from the Caucasus countries in Israel,” the statement said.
According to reports, the couple was recruited by Elshan Agayev, an Azerbaijani acting on behalf of Iranian officials. It remains unclear, however, if Agayev is based in Israel. The couple surveilled sensitive Israeli locations, including the Mossad headquarters, and gathered information on an academic at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, the police said.
This comes just days after two other suspected spy networks were uncovered. On October 22, police arrested seven Palestinians from east Jerusalem on suspicion of planning attacks for Iran. The day before that, seven Israelis were detained in Haifa in northern Israel, for allegedly conducting spy missions for Iran.
The week before that, two other Israelis were arrested after they were approached by Iranian agents for spy missions.
In September, Mordechai Maman from Ashkelon was arrested on suspicion of plotting the assassination of top officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at Iran’s behest.
Israel is currently in a multi-front war with Iran-backed groups – Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Houthis in Yemen.
