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Israeli citizen arrested for contact with Iranian agent

Debs printed and posted posters encouraging a military coup and promoted a Telegram group aimed at recruiting additional Israeli citizens.

By Noah Michaeli, TPS

An Israeli man was arrested for contact with an Iranian agent, the Justice Ministry announced on Monday.

The State Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment against Eden Debs, a 30-year-old resident of Ramat Gan, for contact with an Iranian agent. He carried out various tasks for the agent in exchange for payment transferred to him in cryptocurrency.

Among other things, Debs printed and posted posters encouraging a military coup and promoted a Telegram group aimed at recruiting additional Israeli citizens.

According to the indictment, over the past four months, Debs was in contact with an operative working for Iranian intelligence who contacted him via Telegram.

The agent did not hide his Iranian origin and offered the defendant various tasks in exchange for payment.

The defendant performed some of these tasks despite understanding that the agent was acting on behalf of an enemy state.

The agent also instructed Debs to purchase a burner phone and a dedicated SIM card, buy a wig, gloves, and a hat, and, at one point, delete all their communications.

Debs maintained contact with the agent for an extended period, responding to several requests from the agent, and even voluntarily offered to assist with the agent’s actions, receiving various payments over time and negotiating the amount he would receive for each task.

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In total, the defendant received $12,000 in cryptocurrency.