Israeli authorities last month arrested a Jewish Israeli businessman on suspicion of having met with Iranian intelligence operatives and assisting them in planning high-profile assassinations, including of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed on Thursday.
He was named as Moti Maman, 73, from the southern coastal city of Ashkelon.
He visited Iran twice in recent months, where he demanded $1 million as a down payment for a series of missions, according to the Shin Bet.
These included recruiting and paying other agents and gathering intelligence for the assassination of Israeli senior politicians, including Netanyahu, former prime minister Naftali Bennett, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, the report said.
It did not indicate whether the suspect had confessed to any of the allegations.
The man had lived in Turkey for an extended period and traveled there for some of his meetings with Iranian intelligence operatives, according to the report. It named two Turkish men, Andrey Faruk Aslan and Junayed Aslan, as Iranian intelligence assets who arranged the meetings.
Originally, the suspect had traveled to Iran to meet with a man named Eddie for a business proposition that turned into a recruitment attempt, according to the Shin Bet. The suspect was paid at least €5,000 ($5,568) for agreeing to travel to Iran, which is illegal for Israeli citizens.
On Tuesday, the agency revealed it had thwarted a second attempt by Hezbollah to assassinate a former senior security official. According to the agency, the attack involved an explosive device and was intended to be carried out in the coming days.
Arab media reported on Wednesday that the intended target of the bombing was Lt. Gen. (res.) Aviv Kochavi, who was the IDF chief of staff between 2019 and 2023. Hezbollah operatives surveilled the retired military leader at a “sports facility” he used to frequent in Tel Aviv, according to the reports.
Also on Wednesday, the Israel Police revealed that in September 2023, Hezbollah had tried to assassinate former Israeli defense minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon via a remotely-detonated bomb in Tel Aviv’s Yarkon Park.
The report about the suspected Iranian spy did not tie him to that incident.
