Two Israeli couples arrested on espionage charges

Jerusalem:

Israeli police said on Thursday they had arrested an Israeli couple on suspicion of spying for Iran, barely a week after arresting two groups allegedly working for Tehran.

“Iran’s efforts to recruit Israelis continue to be thwarted,” police and Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency said in a statement.

The two Israelis, a couple from downtown Lod, were involved in collecting information about “national infrastructure, security locations and the persecution of an academic,” the statement said.

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

Police claimed the pair were recruited by Elshan (Elhan) Agayev, an Azerbaijani citizen acting on behalf of Iranian officials. It was unclear whether Agayev is based in Israel.

They alleged that the Golievs monitored sensitive Israeli sites, including the headquarters of Israel's Mossad spy agency, and collected information about a scientist who worked at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.

Thursday's announcement came just over a week after Israeli security services said they had uncovered two more suspected spy rings.

On October 22, Israeli police said they had arrested a group of seven Palestinians from Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem whom they suspected of plotting 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 espionage missions on behalf of Iran.

Last week, two more Israelis were charged with various crimes after they were allegedly approached by Iranian agents and asked to carry out espionage missions.

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

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

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