Latest Iran-backed spy plot in Israel foiled, Israeli citizen arrested

Israel has announced the arrest of a 29-year-old man suspected of spying for Iran, the latest in a string of cases of Iran-backed plots being carried out by Israeli citizens.

A joint statement from Israel’s security services and the police, said that Alexander Granovsky, a resident of Petah Tikva, was arrested this month after being suspected of spying for Iran, in a plot which had involved photographing the entrance to former defense minister Benny Gantz's residential neighborhood.

He is also accused of setting eight cars on fire around Israel and photographing a sensitive facility in the center of the country.

Granovsky had also sprayed "Children of Ruhollah” on various buildings, referring to Iran’s first Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini.

The investigation also revealed that the man’s handlers discussed with him the possibility of obtaining a rifle and grenades to shoot at houses.

He had also been asked to gather information on the residential addresses of ministers in the Israeli government, and to set fire to a police car, a bus, and a truck, but Alexander refused to carry out the tasks.

A prosecutor's statement was filed against him on Monday and an indictment is expected to be filed against him in the Central District Court in the coming days.

A statement from Israel Police said Granovsky had, like those cases previously, been lured by money.

"This case joins a series of cases from the past year that teaches about repeated efforts by terrorist and hostile intelligence agencies to recruit Israeli citizens for the sake of carrying out tasks intended to harm the security of the country of Israel and its inhabitants,” the statement said.

Multiple cases have been foiled in Israel this year as Iran steps up its attempts to infiltrate the country through its citizens in the wake of the Gaza war. Arrests of both men and women have taken place this year from all over Israel, in cash for intelligence plots.