Two Israeli soldiers, Georgi Andreev and Yuri Eliasfov, have been accused of working on behalf of Iran. The Israel Defense Forces soldiers were charged with contact with a foreign agent and sharing classified information.
Eliasfov served in the Iron Dome unit and allegedly passed along information to his Iranian handler. According to reports, Eliasfov received $2,500 from the Iranian agent while Andreyev received $50.
The two soldiers are further accused of spray-painting pro-Iranian graffiti and hanging banners in Tel Aviv with the phrase “Children of Ruhollah,” a reference to Iran’s first supreme leader following the 1979 revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini.
A statement from Israel’s security service, the Shin Bet, and Israeli police, read, “We urge Israeli citizens and residents to avoid any contact with foreign operatives and to reject offers to carry out tasks on their behalf. We will act with full severity against those involved in such activities.”
The soldiers are expected to be indicted in the coming days, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Sarit Perez, an investigator with the Israel Police’s International Crime Investigations Unit, said, “The Iranians cast a net, and whoever falls into their trap gets caught,” adding, “Identifying them as soldiers with access to IDF information led the Iranians to focus on military intelligence, including requesting details about aircraft damage from their missile strike against Israel.”
The former head of Israel’s Interpol, Asher Ben-Artzi, told Iran International that Iranian intelligence recruits Israelis, “mainly from the weakest strata of society, to whom they promise to make easy and quick money. This affair that has now been revealed was a great success for them after they managed to locate a reservist stationed in a sensitive unit and the assessment of the security officials is that the information they provided did indeed cause damage.”
“The fact that they gained access to IDF soldiers, even in reserve service, is very worrying,” Ben-Artzi said.
