Seven young men between the ages of 19 and 23, residents of Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem, were arrested on suspicion of planning to eliminate a nuclear scientist and the mayor of a city in the center of the country. This is a joint investigation by the Shin Bet and the Jerusalem police. The arrests first announced on Tuesday morning follow a joint investigation by the Shin Bet and the Jerusalem police.
The investigation revealed that an Iranian official contacted the main suspect, named Rami Aliyan, who recruited him and gave him tasks in exchange for money. The suspect managed to recruit six more people from his neighborhood to carry out the tasks, including setting fire to vehicles in Ein Kerem, spray painting graffiti and throwing a grenade at the house of a security forces member.
In addition, they received instructions to purchase weapons and grenades. The main task that the Iranian handler asked them to carry out included gathering intelligence on the mayors a city in the center of the country and assassinating one of the country's top nuclear scientists. The young men prepared the required intelligence and even made contacts to purchase weapons, but were arrested before they could complete the moves.
Each of those involved has incriminated himself, and they were arrested in September. An indictment is expected to be filed against them Wednesday, after a prosecutor's statement has been submitted.
Aliyan acted under the instructions of Iran, which provided him with precise details regarding the target of the assassination, and the young men were supposed to carry out preparation in the field. Although they failed to purchase the required weapons, the Iranians transferred funds to them to carry out the operations.
The investigation revealed that the young men received different payments for different tasks:
• 500 shekels for photographing various places, including the Weizmann Institute.
• 1,500 shekels for photographing a certain destination.
• 2,000 shekels for burning a car.
• $100 for spraying graffiti against the state, and "return the hostages now."
• Between 13,000 and 15,000 shekels were allocated for the purchase of guns and rifles , but they did not have enough time to complete the transaction.
During the investigation, some of the suspects admitted to being in contact with the Iranians and carrying out the operations, and said that the main motive was nationalistic.
The arrests come a day after a serious espionage case was revealed, also involving Iran, in which seven Israelis who immigrated from Azerbaijan, including a father and son, are suspected of having maintained contact for two years with elements in the Islamic Republic - as part of which they photographed military bases, which were also the targets of the ballistic missile attack from Iran earlier this month. Some of the seven were caught when they were following an Israeli senior official and his son, whom they allegedly planned to assassinate. It is described as one of the most severe security breaches in Israel's history.
The Rishon Letzion Magistrate's Court revealed on Monday that the seven, all residents of Haifa and northern Israel, will be indicted on Friday. Among the suspects are a soldier who deserted from duty and two minors. The suspects—Aziz Nisanov, Alexander Sadikov, Yigal Nisan, Vyacheslav Guschin, Yevgeni Ioffe and the two minors—were arrested on September 19 on suspicion of espionage. The indictment will include charges of collaborating with enemies of the state, which carries a potential life sentence.
The suspects allegedly worked under the direction of Iranian operatives in exchange for hundreds of thousands of shekels paid in cash and cryptocurrency.
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