Two residents of the Golan Heights in northern Israel were indicted on Friday on charges of spying for Iran, according to a statement by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Israel Police.
The suspects, father and son Bassem and Tahrir Safadi, from the Druze village of Mas’ade, were apprehended in November on suspicion that they had been “recruited by Iranian elements and committed crimes of espionage and contact with a foreign agent during war,” the statement read.
The son, a 21-year-old software engineering student, was apparently involved in recent years in gathering intelligence for Iran and the “Shi’ite axis” under the guidance of his father, Hebrew media reported.
Israeli investigators had found that Tahrir collected information about the Israel Defense Forces in the Golan Heights area, which was then delivered to Hussam as-Salam Tawfiq Zidan, a Damascus-based journalist of the Iranian state-owned Al-Alam News Network and who assists the Quds Force branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Tahrir and Bassem were instructed by Zidan to carry out various missions, among them taking pictures of IDF troops, tank movements, military equipment and weapons, according to the Shin Bet.
Tahrir is accused of “grave crimes of espionage” while his father is incarcerated under an administrative detention order—without charges—due to “the absence of a criminal-proceeding alternative, and given his high risk to state security and public peace,” the security agency said.
Bassem’s detention was authorized by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, as required by Israeli law.
“The investigation of the case revealed once again the fact that sources within the axis led by Iran act to advance terror activity in Israel and to exploit residents of Israel for espionage activities,” the Shin Bet added.
In recent months, several cases of Israelis suspected of spying for Tehran were revealed by the country’s security establishment.
Seven Israeli Jews, including two minors aged 16 and 17, as well as a father and son, have been in custody since September on suspicion of serious espionage for Iran in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In October, a prosecutor’s statement was submitted against them with a request to extend their detention until the end of the proceedings, while the security establishment is investigating how they operated for two years under the radar of the Shin Bet, IDF, police and Mossad.
The suspects are Aziz Nisanov, Alexander Sadikov, Yigal Nisan, Vyacheslav Gushchin, Yevgeny Yoffe and two minors. They are all Israeli Jews who immigrated from Azerbaijan.
On Oct. 14, Israeli authorities revealed that the Shin Bet has uncovered a network of Iranian intelligence operatives working to recruit and activate Israeli citizens, including the assassination of a prominent Israeli figure.
As part of a coordinated counterintelligence operation, Vladislav Viktorson, a 30-year-old Ramat Gan resident, was arrested for questioning.
Investigators found that since August, Viktorson had been in contact via social media with an individual using the name “Mari Hossi.” Their communications were conducted in Hebrew.
Under the direction of an Iranian operative, and fully aware of the handler’s identity, Viktorson carried out various tasks. These included spray-painting graffiti, hanging posters, planting money and torching vehicles in north Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park. He was later instructed to sabotage communication infrastructure and ATMs, and to set fires in forests.
Some of these activities were documented, and Viktorson received more than $5,000 for their execution. The investigation revealed that Viktorson agreed to assassinate a prominent figure in Israel and to throw a grenade at a house. Following this, he took steps to acquire weapons, including a sniper rifle, handguns and fragmentation grenades.