Several Iranian Assassination Plots Foiled Inside Israel

Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, states that Iran has increased its assassination efforts within Israel. The agency added in its statement that several assassination plots by Iran, some of which were at advanced stages, have recently been thwarted, although details of these plots have not yet been made public. In a part of the statement released on Monday, October 1, Shin Bet said, 'In recent weeks, Shin Bet has discovered a significant increase in Iranian actions aimed at assassinating targets within Israeli territory.' Shin Bet claims that Iran has attempted to recruit Israeli civilians to attack senior officials in the country. The statement refers to the recent arrest of an Israeli citizen named Moti (Mordechai) Maman, who was secretly taken to Iran twice and tasked with assassinating the Prime Minister, Defense Minister, or the head of Shin Bet. The Israeli man is being prosecuted for allegedly designing the assassination of officials in the country for Iran. Shin Bet added that Iran is also trying to recruit Israelis online. Iranian operatives identify and select their Israeli targets through social media and platforms related to cryptocurrency trading, finance, and job searching. Shin Bet states that Iranian agents offer substantial sums of money to Israeli citizens for carrying out tasks such as 'placing money or mobile phones in specific locations, distributing flyers, graffiti on walls, and even setting cars on fire and injuring people.' The internal security agency further urged the public to pay attention to any suspicious cases and to exercise extreme caution, especially in cases where the proposed payment is very high and does not correspond to the requested task or where the requested task is unusual. The agency called on the Israeli public to report any suspicious activities. On September 20, the Israeli prosecution accused Moti (Mordechai) Maman in a court indictment of participating in advancing the Islamic Republic's efforts to kill Benjamin Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett, and several other important officials in Israel by accepting money from Iranian intelligence agencies. Moti Maman, 72, a businessman from the Israeli port city of Ashkelon who had been living in Turkey for a long time, has been accused of contacting a 'foreign agent.' The indictment against him states that Mr. Maman has also traveled to Iran twice.