Arab-Israeli student spied for Iran, sabotaged roads: Shin Bet

The university student, Bashar Hassan Qassem Musa, reportedly worked to provoke unrest and damage Israeli infrastructure.

By World Israel News Staff

The Shin Bet intelligence agency and prosecutors’ office announced that an Arab-Israeli student is being charged with offenses related to spying for Iran.

Bashar Hassan Qassem Musa, 22, originally from the northern town of Deir al-Assad, was arrested earlier in June.

However, the statement regarding his apprehension did not indicate whether or not Musa was detained before the outbreak of the Israel-Iran war.

According to the authorities, Musa — an information systems student at Beersheba’s Ben Gurion University — was in contact for a “lengthy amount of time” with an Iranian intelligence agent.

Musa is said to have carried out numerous missions at the behest of Iran, including scattering nails on a main thoroughfare in Beersheba, and encouraging divisive political discourse online.

Like all of the Israelis found to have spied for Iran in recent months, Musa received payments from Tehran for executing various tasks.

But it appears that Musa wasn’t strictly motivated by financial gain.

He reportedly told his handler that he was ideologically opposed to the State of Israel, and believed he was acting in solidarity with Gaza.

In a immediate statement commenting on Musa’s arrest, the Shin Bet said that “providing information to the enemy — even seemingly minor details — assists in its war against Israel.”

The intelligence agency added that security forces “will continue to identify and prevent espionage and terror efforts by citizens acting on behalf of hostile nations, while ensuring those involved are brought to justice.”

Last week, an unsealed indictment revealed that an Israeli man from Haifa was paid by Iran to spy on members of the Netanyahu family.

Dimitri Cohen, 27, reportedly photographed the home and family members of Netanyahu’s youngest son’s fiancé, Amit Yardeni.

He was arrested in late May, after about three weeks of contact with the Iranian operative.

Arab IsraelisIranIranian spyspying