Kiryat Motzkin teenagers charged with espionage for Iran
The Haifa District Attorney's Office has indicted two teenagers, aged 14 and 16, for working for an Iranian intelligence agent. The minors conducted surveillance on shopping malls and attempted to recruit others for high-risk missions, continuing their activities even after realizing they were working for a hostile foreign power.
Two teenagers, aged 14 and 16 from Kiryat Motzkin, have been charged with working for an Iranian intelligence agent in exchange for payment. The indictment was filed today, Sunday, by the Haifa District Attorney's Office at the city's Juvenile District Court.
According to the indictment, the two were managed via Telegram, where they carried out photography and intelligence-gathering missions in major shopping malls, sprayed graffiti, and worked to establish a network to recruit other minors for dangerous tasks.
Surveillance and security concerns
The affair began about two months ago when one of the minors sought work in a Telegram group and was contacted by a person identifying as "Daniel." The teenager later recruited his friend, and the two continued their activities even after they suspected, and later confirmed, that they were working for an agent acting on behalf of Iran.
As part of their tasks, one of the teenagers photographed various locations in Israel, including prominent shopping malls in the Herzliya and Tel Aviv areas. In one instance, he provided the agent with detailed information regarding the number of entrances, exits, and security guards at a mall. The indictment reveals that after one mission, the minor deleted the videos he had sent out of genuine fear that the agent intended to use them to carry out a terror attack.
Additionally, the two sprayed graffiti throughout Kiryat Motzkin with slogans such as "Our future is not in the hands of a dictator" and "Extremism has given us endless wars," sending documentation of their work to the operator.
Recruitment and payment
To expand their activity, one of the teenagers impersonated a soldier from Unit 8200 on Telegram to demonstrate capability and secure further assignments. Following the agent's demand to recruit more activists, they created a dedicated Telegram channel to find other minors willing to perform high-risk missions. The teenagers were paid hundreds of shekels for their activities, including payments made via cryptocurrency.
One of the defendants is charged with contact with a foreign agent, three counts of providing information to the enemy, and vandalism. The other is charged with aiding and abetting contact with a foreign agent and vandalism.
Attorneys Sagi Blumenfeld and Amir Bartal, representing one of the defendants, stated: "We intend to study the investigation materials in depth. One thing is already clear: our client had no intention of harming the security of the state. Everything else will be clarified in court."
