The State Attorney’s Office indicted Tarek Oweida, 53, of Jerusalem, on Monday for allegedly maintaining contact for about a year with a foreign agent who sought photographs and information from across the capital.
The indictment, filed in Jerusalem District Court, alleges that the operative offered Oweida money to photograph Jewish residential neighborhoods and locations used by police and security forces. Prosecutors have asked the court to keep him in custody until the conclusion of the proceedings.
The case is narrower than several recent foreign-agent prosecutions: The indictment explicitly states that Oweida did not complete any of the proposed assignments, did not transmit the requested material. He also received no payment.
Oweida was arrested on September 9. Roughly a year earlier, he allegedly sought to join a Telegram group called “The Resistance,” through which he began corresponding with the suspected agent approximately once every two weeks.
Prosecutors allege that the person was acting on behalf of either a foreign state or a terrorist organization.
During the correspondence, the operative allegedly asked Oweida to photograph locations in Jerusalem in exchange for money. At the agent’s request, Oweida downloaded a separate application intended to allow them to communicate securely and through encrypted messages, the indictment states.
On August 23, the operative asked whether Oweida had a driver’s license or another means of transportation. Oweida replied that he used an electric bicycle, prompting the operative to ask whether he could mount a camera on it and record his journeys without attracting attention. Oweida replied he was in the area of al-Aqsa Mosque, according to the filing.
Later in the exchange, he asked the operative to stop contacting him. When the operative replied that he would request activities that would “please God,” Oweida allegedly continued the conversation and asked what information was wanted.
Four days later, Oweida agreed to a request to mount a camera on his bicycle and photograph a mosque, but did not carry out the assignment, prosecutors said.
On September 7, two days before his arrest, the operative again asked him to install a camera on the bicycle and film while riding near al-Aqsa Mosque or in other areas that could assist them. Oweida did not reply and did not perform the task, according to the indictment.
He is charged with one count of contact with a foreign agent. Unlike several recent cases involving alleged foreign handlers, he has not been charged with providing information to the enemy or completing an intelligence-gathering assignment.
The indictment includes general background on an increase in Iranian efforts to recruit Israelis through social media and messaging applications since the October 7 massacre. It does not, however, identify the operative in Oweida’s case as Iranian.
Charged with contact with an alleged Iranian intelligence operative
In March, Jerusalem prosecutors charged Ali Jaber, 23, of Eilat, with contact with an alleged Iranian intelligence operative and three counts of providing information that could assist the enemy. Jaber allegedly received hundreds of dollars after photographing locations in Eilat, areas inside Ovda Air Base, where he was working, and the road leading to the base.
In December, Vadim Kupriyanov, 40, of Rishon Lezion, was charged after allegedly using a dashboard camera to record the street and entrance outside former prime minister Naftali Bennett’s Ra’anana home for an Iranian handler. Prosecutors said he also completed other paid photography assignments.
Those cases illustrate a recurring method described by Israeli authorities: approaching potential recruits through Telegram or job advertisements, initially offering payment for apparently simple photographs and later requesting access to more sensitive locations.