31st October 2024 – (Lod) Israeli police announced on Thursday the arrest of a couple from Lod, suspected of espionage activities on behalf of Iran. This development follows closely on the heels of the apprehension of two other groups allegedly linked to Iranian intelligence operations.
According to a joint statement from the police and Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, the couple, Rafael and Lala Goliev, were engaged in intelligence-gathering activities targeting “national infrastructures, security sites, and tracking a female academic.”
The Golievs are believed to have been recruited by Elshan Agayev, an Azerbaijani national reportedly acting on behalf of Iranian officials. Details regarding Agayev’s current location remain unclear, but police allege that he facilitated the couple’s espionage tasks.
The couple is accused of conducting surveillance on sensitive Israeli locations, including the headquarters of the Mossad spy agency, as well as collecting intelligence on an academic associated with the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
This announcement comes just over a week after Israeli security services revealed they had dismantled two additional suspected spy rings. On October 22, authorities arrested a group of seven Palestinians from Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, believed to be planning attacks for Iran. A day prior, another group of seven Israeli citizens from Haifa was detained, suspected of executing hundreds of espionage missions at the behest of Iranian operatives.
Earlier in October, two Israelis faced charges after allegedly being approached by Iranian agents to undertake spying activities. In September, Mordechai Maman, an Israeli from Ashkelon, was arrested for allegedly being recruited by Iran to assassinate senior officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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