Courtesy of JNS. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends the Great Conference of Basij members at Azadi stadium in Tehran, Oct. 4, 2018
(JNS) — An Israeli citizen from the city of Nof Hagalil near Nazareth has been arrested on suspicion of carrying out various missions for Iran, according to a joint statement released by the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Israel Police on Monday.
Artyom Zolotarev, 33, has been indicted for the offenses of contact with a foreign agent, arson and vandalism, according to the statement.
A figure named “Eliad” contacted Zolotarev online in October, and asked him to spray anti-government graffiti, the statement said.
Zolotarev allegedly did so dozens of times, in the Nof HaGalil, Haifa and Migdal HaEmek areas, documenting his activities with photographs and videos, which he sent to Eliad.
He was rewarded with $2,800 in cryptocurrency, according to the statement.
After reading about the arrest of several other Israelis who had carried out tasks for Iran, Zolotarev realized that “Eliad” was potentially Iranian and refused to follow further instructions, including an assassination, arson and photographing residential buildings and power transformers, according to the statement.
However, after being offered $2,000 to light a vehicle on fire in Haifa, Zolotarev allegedly obliged.
Following this, he was transferred to another online operator, named “Boaz Mar,” who gave him further vandalism tasks. Zolotarev allegedly set another vehicle on fire in Haifa, sending documentation of the deed to his operator.
“This case is another example of the growing efforts of Iranian intelligence elements to recruit Israeli citizens for the carrying out of security and terrorist actions in Israel. The State of Israel’s security forces, among them the Shin Bet and Israel Police, will continue to cooperate to detect Iranian activity, and bring those who engage in such activities to justice,” the statement said.
On Friday, two residents of the Golan Heights in northern Israel were indicted on charges of spying for Iran.
The suspects, father and son Bassem and Tahrir Safadi, from the Druze village of Mas’ade, were apprehended in November on suspicion that they had been “recruited by Iranian elements and committed crimes of espionage and contact with a foreign agent during war,” according to a joint statement by the Shin Ben and police.
In October, a resident of Petah Tikva in central Israel was arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate a prominent figure at the direction of Iran.
Vladimir Verhovski, 35, from Petah Tikva, “carried out various tasks” for Iranian sources in exchange for payment, according to police. Verhovski had allegedly agreed to murder an Israeli scientist in exchange for $100,000, and had already acquired a weapon to carry out the hit.
In September, Moti Maman, 73, a Jewish Israeli businessman from the southern coastal city of Ashkelon, was arrested on suspicion of having met with Iranian intelligence operatives and assisting them in planning high-profile assassinations, including of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He visited Iran twice in recent months, where he demanded $1 million as a down payment for a series of missions, according to the Shin Bet.
