Israel launches ad campaign warning citizens against spying for Iran
Israel launched a national media campaign on Wednesday warning citizens against spying for Iran, cautioning that cooperating with Tehran could lead to imprisonment.
Israel launched a national media campaign on Wednesday warning citizens against spying for Iran, cautioning that cooperating with Tehran could lead to imprisonment.
Israeli authorities say they have uncovered more than 25 cases of Iranian recruitment over the past year, with more than 35 people indicted on serious security charges.
“The campaign carries significant national importance, especially in the aftermath of (the war with Iran), after which Iranian efforts to recruit operatives and execute missions inside Israel are expected to intensify,” said Israel's National Public Diplomacy Directorate, which along with domestic security service the Shin Bet is behind the campaign.
“For 5,000 shekels, is it worth ruining your life or family?” reads one of the campaign's video ads, referencing the reported amounts some individuals have received for passing information to Tehran.
“Easy money, heavy cost – don’t help the Iranian enemy,” another message warns, saying that cooperating with Iran can lead to imprisonment of up to 15 years.
The warnings come after Israel last month fought a 12-day war with Iran, a conflict sparked by rising tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Earlier this month, Israeli security services arrested a Tel Aviv resident accused of being involved in an Iran-backed plot targeting the country’s politicians and military bases.
In February, two army reservists were caught allegedly passing classified information on the country’s Iron Dome defense system to an Iranian operative.
The death of Gholamhossein Gheybparvar, deputy commander at the Revolutionary Guards’ Imam Ali base was attributed to “illness caused by chemical injuries” from the Iran-Iraq war which ended in 1988.
No such condition had been previously disclosed, and in a visit last month to the northern Iranian city of Qazvin he wore a face mask but appeared otherwise healthy.
Known by the alias Shahram, Gheybparvar held prominent roles across IRGC institutions involved in domestic crackdowns.
Gheybparvar headed the domestic militia the Basij from 2016 to 2019, overseeing paramilitary confrontations with protestors and was appointed deputy chief of the Imam Ali base the same year.
The Imam Ali base commands battalions formed in 2011 under then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Its units—often clad in black or camouflage—have appeared in nearly every nationwide protest since, engaging directly in beatings and detentions.
Their operations are supported by the Sarallah base, which oversees security over the capital Tehran and which was targeted in Israeli attacks last month.
Ali Taeb, another key security figure whose death was announced last week, served as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's former representative at the base. His brother Hossein Taeb once led the Revolutionary Guard’s Intelligence Organization.
Taeb’s death, reported on Friday, was announced just hours after a gas explosion at a residential high-rise in western Tehran. State media said Taeb died of natural causes.
Israel’s 12-day military campaign against Iran began on June 13, targeting not only bases and nuclear sites but also top-ranking military and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials.
Israeli airstrikes and drone attacks killed hundreds of Iranian military personnel and nuclear scientists, as well as hundreds of civilians. In response, Iranian missile salvos killed 27 Israeli civilians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a July 11 interview that Israel had rolled back Iran’s nuclear program but suggested the confrontation with the Islamic Republic was not yet over.
