Israeli authorities indicted a Jewish man on Thursday after Iran allegedly recruited him to pursue an assassination plot against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other high-ranking Israeli officials.
The 73-year-old suspect, Moti Maman, was arrested in August upon his return to Israel from Iran, where he met with Tehran’s intelligence officials twice and received some money to conduct terrorist missions in Israel. During his most recent trip to Iran, Maman received instruction to “advance assassination attacks” against Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, or Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, according to the investigation led by Israel’s domestic security agency and police.
Iranian intelligence officials also considered eliminating other senior officials, including former prime minister Naftali Bennet.
“This is a very serious affair that is an example of the great efforts of the Iranian intelligence agencies to recruit Israeli citizens to promote terrorist activities in Israel,” a Shin Bet official said.
“At a time when the State of Israel is at war on several fronts, an Israeli citizen goes to an enemy country on two different occasions, meets with Iranian intelligence agents, and expresses a willingness to carry out serious terrorist acts on Israeli soil,” Shin Bet added. “His actions helped Iran and its intelligence agents in their campaign against Israel.”
The announcement comes on the heels of Israel’s remote detonations of Hezbollah’s pagers, handheld radios, and other electronic devices in the past two days. The deadly blasts could very well push Israel and Lebanon’s Iranian proxy to all-out war amid the former’s ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
Israel has not claimed responsibility for the explosions, though security sources believe they were carried out by Mossad. The attacks came after authorities said they foiled Hezbollah’s plot to assassinate former Israeli defense officials.
As for the Iranian assassination plot, the Shin Bet said Tehran wanted to seek revenge for the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in July. Maman demanded $1 million in advance of any actions he would have taken, but Iran only paid him 5,000 euros for participating in the two meetings.
The Shin Bet uncovered that, in addition to potentially assassinating Netanyahu and others, Maman was tasked with placing money or a handgun at specified locations, taking photos of crowded public areas, and threatening other Israeli civilians working for Iran who did not complete their missions.
Plans were also raised for Maman to direct Russians or Americans to assassinate Iranian dissidents in Europe and the U.S., as well as recruiting a Mossad operative as a double agent.
The suspect, originally from the city of Ashkelon in southern Israel, lived in Turkey, where he conducted business with Turkish and Iranian nationals. During the time period he was in contact with Iranian officials this year, he returned to Turkey and later traveled to Israel.
After he was apprehended last month, Maman reportedly told investigators, “It’s good that you arrested me, I don’t know where it could have gone.” Maman’s lawyer similarly said his client made “an error of judgment” and is fully cooperating with authorities in the investigation.