Israeli security forces recently arrested three more citizens of the Jewish state who allegedly harmed national security by carrying out tasks for Iranian handlers, the Israel Police said on Monday.
In three separate arrest raids on June 14-15, the Israel Police, assisted by Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) officials, took into custody Mark Morgain, 33, a resident of the Jordan Valley, and Yoni Segal, 18, and Nehorai Omri Mizrahi (20), both from the northern city of Tiberias, police said.
Segal and Mizrahi were allegedly asked to perform “various tasks” for the Islamic Republic, including photographing shopping malls and providing details about security measures and other information.
The locations they were said to have documented for Tehran included Haifa’s Grand Canyon mall, Big Fashion Tiberias, the Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv and Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center’s Ichilov Hospital.
The two suspects urged their handler to send them additional missions, police said, calling it “a serious case of transferring information to be used by Israel’s enemies to plan attacks on innocent civilians.”
Authorities said they also suspected that Segal and Mizrahi were asked to murder an unknown Israeli in return for hundreds of thousands of shekels. To carry out the assassination, the two were asked to travel to another country to train, after which they would be given the target’s name. However, the suspects were arrested before they left Israel.
Morgain was arrested on suspicion of “communicating with hostile intelligence elements during the month of June and performing various tasks under their direct instructions,” police said.
Among other accusations, the suspect agreed to an Iranian request to retrieve a grenade from one location and move it to another, all while fully aware that the grenade was intended to harm civilians, it said.
The Jordan Valley resident also sent a video of a missile interception that he filmed at Tehran’s request during the 12-day “Operation Rising Lion” against the Islamic Republic, according to the accusations on Monday.
Police on Monday submitted a prosecutor’s statement, indicating its intent to file “serious indictments” against the suspects in the coming weeks. In response, the Petach Tikvah Magistrate’s Court extended the detention of the three men by four weeks, until July 30, 2025, it said.
Since the outbreak of the war triggered by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre from Gaza, security forces have uncovered two dozen cases of Tehran attempting to recruit citizens of the Jewish state.
On Sunday, Israel’s Channel 12 News broadcaster reported that the Islamic regime came “very close” to assassinating Defense Minister Israel Katz with the help of two Jewish Israelis who were arrested in April on suspicion of security-related offenses committed on Tehran’s behalf.
Roi Mizrahi is accused of planting a “powerful” bomb near Katz’s home in Kfar Ahim, according to Channel 12. Mizrahi allegedly carried out the act in coordination with a second suspect, Almog Atias.
The explosive device—allegedly described to Mizrahi as containing drugs or soaps, though he reportedly understood it was a bomb—detonated as Katz passed by. The blast failed to cause casualties.