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Israel says cracks a militant cell recruited, handled by Iranian spies
JERUSALEM: Israel said on Wednesday it had cracked a Palestinian militant cell suspected of having been recruited and handled by Iranian intelligence officers who worked out of South Africa.
Israel has long been locked in a shadow war with arch-foe Iran, which supports guerrillas in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and whose nuclear programme is believed to have been targeted repeatedly by Israeli saboteurs.
Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said three Palestinians from the West Bank had been indicted on espionage and terrorism charges after they confessed to accepting Iranian-assigned missions, including preparation of a suicide bombing and providing their handlers with Israeli cellphone SIM cards.
In its statement, the Shin Bet said that the suspects’ point of contact was a Palestinian who lived in South Africa and had been recruited by the Iranian intelligence. It gave no indication whether the South African government knew of the alleged Iranian activity, or of the Palestinian man’s whereabouts.
South Africa, where pro-Palestinian sentiment is strong, has strained relations with Israel, but the Shin Bet statement also suggested the country effectively served as an Iranian spy hub. “It became clear, during the investigation, that Iranian intelligence used South Africa as a significant arena for locating, recruiting and running anti-Israel agents in the West Bank,” the Shin Bet said.
It said that several Iranian officers had traveled there from Tehran for the operation. South Africa’s Foreign Ministry and Home Affairs Ministry and the Iranian Embassy in Pretoria did not immediately respond to the Israeli allegations. The Shin Bet did not say when it cracked the Palestinian cell or when the trial of the suspects would begin.
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters the case showed that Iran operates in a subversive and terrorist manner… not just in aiding groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, but also in attempts to organise ‘terror activities’ within the State of Israel against its civilians. The Shin Bet did not describe any of the attacks or espionage missions allegedly planned by the suspects as having been near to fruition.
It also did not say whether the three had been assigned lawyers or how they might plead to the charges. A Shin Bet veteran interviewed by the Israel Radio about the case suggested the purported South African link may be unprecedented.
“Apparently the Iranians found fertile ground in South Africa,” said ex-officer Adi Carmi, adding: “I do not recall South Africa ever having been used by the Iranians as a terrorist recruiting ground for the aim of carrying out attacks.”
On Wednesday, Israel said it would pay thousands of African migrants living illegally in the country to leave, threatening them with jail if they are caught after the end of March. In public remarks at a cabinet meeting on the payment programme, Prime Minister Netanyahu said a barrier Israel completed in 2013 along its border with Egypt had effectively cut off a stream of infiltrators from Africa after some 60,000 crossed the desert frontier.
The vast majority came from Eritrea and Sudan and many said they fled war and persecution as well as economic hardship, but Israel treats them as economic migrants. The plan launched this week offers African migrants a $3,500 payment from the Israeli government and a free air ticket to return home or go to third countries, which rights groups identified as Rwanda and Uganda.
“We have expelled about 20,000 and now the mission is to get the rest out,” Netanyahu said. An immigration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there are some 38,000 migrants living illegally in Israel, and some 1,420 are being held in two detention centers. “Beyond the end of March, those who leave voluntarily will receive a significantly smaller payment that will shrink even more with time, and enforcement measures will begin,” the official said, referring to incarceration.
