Israeli couple arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran: police

JERUSALEM (AFP): Israeli police said Thursday they had arrested an Israeli couple on suspicion of spying for Iran, barely a week after two groups allegedly working for Tehran were detained.

“The thwarting of Iran’s efforts to recruit Israelis continues,” said a statement from the police and Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet.

The two Israelis, a couple from the central city of Lod, had been involved in gathering intelligence on “national infrastructures, security sites and tracking a female academic,” the statement alleged.

“Rafael and Lala Goliev… residents of Lod, were arrested after they carried out tasks on behalf of an Iranian cell that recruits Israelis from the Caucasus countries in Israel.”

Police charged that the couple were recruited by Elshan (Elhan) Agayev, an Azerbaijani national acting on behalf of Iranian officials. It was unclear if Agayev is based in Israel.

They alleged that the Golievs carried out surveillance of sensitive Israeli sites, including the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, and collected intelligence on an academic working at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

Thursday’s announcement comes little more than a week after Israeli security services said they had uncovered two other suspected spy rings.

On October 22, Israeli police said they had arrested a group of seven Palestinians from Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem they suspected of planning attacks for Iran.

A day earlier, police said they had arrested seven Israeli citizens from the city of Haifa on suspicion of carrying out hundreds of spy missions on Iran’s orders.

The previous week, two other Israelis were charged with various offenses after they were allegedly approached by Iranian agents and asked to carry out spy missions.

In September, an Israeli identified as Mordechai Maman from the coastal city of Ashkelon, was arrested on suspicion of being recruited by Iran to plot the assassination of top officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel is currently engaged in a multi-front conflict with Iran-backed groups including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.