Israeli security officials have entrusted Jewish religious leaders to help counter online recruitment efforts by Iranian agents seeking to enlist Israelis as spies, the New York Times reported Saturday.
Since Oct. 7, Iranian agents have conducted a sustained online campaign to recruit Israeli civilians to photograph sensitive locations, obtain weapons and hide them at designated sites, and even carry out terror attacks and murders.
To date, Israeli prosecutors have secured indictments in more than 60 cases, police told the NYT.
The alleged perpetrators come from all walks of life and include active soldiers and civilians, religious and secular Israelis, Jews and Arabs, and immigrants from the former Soviet Union. In at least nine of these cases, the accused come from the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community.
Those arrested in connection with the cases are detained and prosecuted, while some proceedings are subject to gag orders and conducted behind closed doors.
“A number of suspects have been exposed for spying for the enemy,” police investigator Amichai Panetta told the NYT. “Some of them carried out their deeds during wartime and helped the enemy realize its plans on Israeli soil.”
Iranian agents utilize simple methods of recruitment and escalate demands over time in exchange for money
Iranian agents use a simple recruitment method, relying on "fishing expeditions and luck," gradually escalating their demands in exchange for "easy" money.
They do this mostly through Telegram. Iranian agents create accounts with fake names, and initially ask recruits to complete basic tasks, such as taking photos or videos, before seeking information about critical infrastructure and systems, including Israel’s air defenses.
In one overt recruitment effort in May, thousands of Israelis received text messages offering payment for intelligence work and directing recipients to contact an Iranian embassy abroad or an Iranian cyber operative online.
“My wife gets an SMS every other day claiming to be from Iranian intelligence and offering a big reward,” said Shalom Ben-Hanan, a former Shin Bet official who receives regular agency briefings on the issue.
He said Iran may view the campaign as successful even if only one or two people are recruited out of thousands.
Despite public awareness campaigns by Israeli authorities warning citizens against Iranian recruitment efforts, officials have struggled to contain the problem.
As such, they have enlisted the help of the public, including Rabbi Yigal Cohen, a member of Israel’s chief rabbinical council with an influential social media presence, to share warnings with the community.
"'I am begging you, there is no greater blasphemy than seeing a Torah-abiding, observant Jew betray his people,” the rabbi said in the video, adding that any such contact with Iranian agents would ruin lives.
Haredi rabbis warn against Iranian recruitment in Yiddish
Another prominent haredi commentator and social media influencer, Israel Cohen, has supported the authorities’ efforts by airing warnings on his radio program and connecting security officials with rabbis, haredi public figures, and opinion leaders.
Cohen said the haredi public was “in shock” at first over reports that members of its ranks had worked for Iran. But the community soon “understood the need to warn against the danger and stop it” before it spread further," Cohen told the NYT.
Appeals to the ultra-Orthodox public are even being made in Yiddish.
In one unusual case, a haredi seminary student and US citizen studying in Jerusalem was arrested on June 9 and indicted for allegedly contacting an Iranian intelligence agent and compromising state security by photographing sensitive sites for payment, according to the report.
The US Embassy declined to comment on this case, citing “privacy and other considerations.”
The full impact of Iran’s recruitment campaign remains unclear, but despite Israel’s far more damaging intelligence operations against Tehran, Israeli authorities continue to treat the threat as a serious security concern.