On Wednesday, Israel announced that it had dismantled an Iranian spy network that recruited Israeli women through social media to gather information. According to Israeli authorities, the women agreed to photograph important sites and collect intelligence, and in at least two cases, they encouraged their children to join the Israeli military intelligence.
Israel views Iran as its greatest threat and has threatened military action against it to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons, while Iran denies seeking such arms and has pledged a strong response to any attack.
The Israeli security agency (Shin Bet) reported that an Iranian intelligence officer who identified himself as "Rambod Namdar" on Facebook claimed to be a Jew living in Israel, and appeared to target Israelis of Iranian descent.
The agency added that an Israeli woman (40 years old) had been in contact with him for years and agreed to photograph the American embassy while she was in Tel Aviv, along with an Israeli government office and a shopping center. She was asked to encourage her son to join military intelligence during his mandatory service and spoke to him over the phone to assess his Persian language skills.
Another woman (57 years old) had been in contact with the suspected recruit for four years and received a total of $5,000 for various tasks. She also pressured her son to join military intelligence and sent his military documents to the recruiter.
Shin Bet stated that she established a group for Israelis of Iranian descent to gather information about them and sought to strengthen her relationship with a member of the Knesset, although she would not name him.
The security agency noted that the alleged spy network's targets have been arrested and face "serious charges." They added, "We are witnessing espionage attempts within Israel by approaching Israeli women under the guise of innocence, convincing them to maintain ongoing relationships, and despite the suspects' doubts that the man is an Iranian intelligence officer, they decided to maintain the relationships and perform various tasks requested of them."
