Bnei Brak Man, Lod Couple Charged With Spying For Iran Against Israel

JERUSALEM (VINnews) —The State Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment Thursday morning at the Tel Aviv District Court, charging that Asher Binyamin Weiss, a resident of Bnei Brak, had cooperated with Iranian agents to track down an unnamed Israeli nuclear scientist for the purpose of his assassination, according to an Arutz Sheva report.

Weiss is charged with contacting a foreign agent, passing information to Israel’s enemies, and interfering in legal proceedings. According to the indictment, Weiss acted as an agent for a period of one month, acting in cooperation with an Iranian actor and carrying out various tasks on his behalf, which posed a threat to Israel’s security.

As per the instructions of the Iranian recruiter and with his guidance, Weiss used a GoPro camera to document the home and vehicle of an Israeli nuclear scientist, whose identity is not cleared for publication, and sent the footage to the recruiter for the purpose of promoting the assassination.

The Iranian recruiter sent the footage to an Arab from the Beit Safafa neighborhood in Jerusalem who was charged with carrying out the assassination (a indictment was issued last week against the suspect and six other East Jerusalem Arabs).

The indictment also showed that as per the instructions of the Iranian recruiter, the accused set vehicles on fire, hurled pipes onto Israeli roads, sprayed graffiti, and hung hundreds of inciting flyers around Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan, calling for a civilian uprising.

Weiss was also required to prove to the Iranian recruiter that the tasks he was given had been carried out, by means of footage and photos sent to the recruiter. These actions were carried out in exchange for a sum total of $25,271 in payment, paid by means of cryptocurrency.

The announcement of Weiss’s indictment occurred the same day that Israeli Police and the Shin Bet announced the arrest and indictment of an Israeli couple from Lod who are also charged with spying for Iran.

Refael and Lala Goliev, a 32-year-old couple from Lod, allegedly carried out acts of espionage on behalf of Iran. The Goliev’s were enlisted by an Azerbaijani agent acting on behalf of Iranian officials, and were tasked to track various security sites and individuals in Israel

The Golievs have been charged with severe security crimes, including aiding the enemy during wartime and providing an enemy with information in order to harm State security. According to Shin Bet, Iran is working to enlist Israelis who hail from the Caucasus region.

According to the indictment, the Golievs have been in contact with two Iranian agents since 2021, and carried out many tasks for them at various times. Among these tasks was that of collecting intelligence for Iran, in order to help Iran in its war against Israel and harm the country’s security.

The Golievs collected information by means of stills and video clips of strategic sites and national infrastructure. Among other sites, the couple documented the Mossad headquarters, the Moldavian Cosulate in Tel Aviv, locations near the Glilot compound, the electric company, the Haifa port, a factory in which Rafael worked, public bomb shelters in Tel Aviv, gravesites of October 7 massacre victims, and more. All of this was sent by the Golievs to their operators via Telegram and by means of a unique encryption app intended to prevent their activities from being discovered.

Rafael also acted to enlist additional operatives in order to create an organized, secret infrastructure which would carry out these tasks, and was also tasked with tailing a senior strategic affairs official. Goliev received $600 for each day that he followed and documented her.

During this period, the operators told Goliev to ensure that their conversations would be kept secret and to act secretly in order to ensure he would not be discovered or caught. As part of this, the operators instructed him to purchase an operational phone, as well as high-quality cameras, a laptop computer, and to use an encryption program that they installed on his laptop for the purpose of passing information safely.

Rafael maintained contact with the operators for a extended period of time and even offered to help them, while receiving various payments in a way that led to the officers to hold an expectation of a long-term relationship.

A senior ISA source said: “These events join a list of thwarted efforts revealed over the past weeks, in which Israeli citizens who acted as intelligence agents for Iran and carried out operations on their behalf were arrested. The investigations reveal, once again, the efforts of Iranian intelligence bodies to enlist and use Israeli citizens in order to advance espionage and terror activities against Israel.”

A senior source in Israel Police said: “Israel Police, together with the Shin Bet and other security bodies, will continue to act day and night to locate and thwart activities against the citizens of the State, and will act with a harsh hand and no patience towards those criminals who have no conscience, who cooperate with the enemy and endanger the public and the State. The State of Israel’s security bodies, including the Shin Bet and Israel Police, will continue cooperation and efforts to locate Iranian operations and will act to bring to severe justice those who are involved in such activities.”