In the youngest case yet, a 13-year-old boy from Tel Aviv has been arrested in connection with spying for Iran, including being asked to photograph Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, according to Israel Police.
“During his police interrogation, it became clear that Iranian officials had recently contacted the minor, a resident of Tel Aviv, via the Telegram app, and asked him to perform several tasks in exchange for a sum of money,” a statement said on Tuesday.
The case mirrors dozens of others uncovered since the Gaza war, involving the arrests of Israelis for what the state alleges are Iranian-backed plots, some with aims to assassinate top military and political figures.
Suspects are recruited via social media, initially offered payment for seemingly innocuous tasks like spraying graffiti, then progressed to more serious activities, including intelligence gathering on the country's nuclear and defense facilities.
“The minor … sprayed graffiti in the Tel Aviv area and in return received sums of money. In addition, the minor was asked to photograph the Iron Dome system, but ultimately did not carry out this task," the police added.
He is now under house arrest.
Oded Ailam, a former head of counter-terrorism at Mossad, said that the legal system’s failings are making the deterrence strategy for Israel more challenging amid a wave of plots in the country.
“The Shin Bet does impressive work uncovering and thwarting these plots time and again. But once a case reaches the courtroom, the system falters. Weak evidence claims, outdated legal frameworks, and lenient sentencing all contribute to a breakdown in deterrence,” he wrote in a paper for the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
“Today’s espionage doesn’t involve trench coats and dead drops, it happens on Facebook, paid in dollars. Yet the legal response still treats it like a relic of another era.”
