Current:Home > FinanceIsrael says it foiled Iranian plot to target, spy on senior Israeli politicians-DB Wealth Institute B2 Reviews & Ratings
Israel says it foiled Iranian plot to target, spy on senior Israeli politicians
lotradecoin cashback View Date:2024-12-26 05:39:59
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel arrested five Palestinians in a plot allegedly hatched in Iran to target and spy on senior Israeli politicians, including Israel’s far-right national security minister, the country’s internal security agency said Wednesday.
The Shin Bet security service alleged that an Iranian security official living in neighboring Jordan had recruited three Palestinian men in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and another two Palestinian citizens of Israel to gather intelligence about several high-profile Israeli politicians.
The targets included National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — a firebrand Israeli settler leader who oversees the country’s police force in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultranationalist government — as well as Yehuda Glick, an American-born far-right Israeli activist and former member of parliament.
The plan was foiled by Israeli intelligence officials, the Shin Bet said, without offering evidence.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations.
Ben-Gvir, who draws inspiration from a racist rabbi, has provoked outrage across the wider Middle East for his particularly hard-line policies against the Palestinians, anti-Arab rhetoric and stunts and frequent public visits to the holiest and most contested site in the Holy Land. The hilltop compound in Jerusalem, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is at the emotional center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Glick is a leader in a campaign that pushes for increased Jewish access and prayer rights at the sacred Jerusalem compound, the holiest site in Judaism home to ancient biblical Temples. Today, the compound houses the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Since Israel captured the site in 1967, Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there. Glick survived a 2014 Palestinian assassination attempt.
The Shin Bet did not elaborate on the identity of the Iranian official in Jordan who allegedly orchestrated the plot. He is not in custody and apparently remains at large.
But the Shin Bet accused three Palestinian men in the West Bank — identified as 47-year old Murad Kamamaja, 34-year-old Hassan Mujarimah and 45-year-old Ziad Shanti — of gathering intelligence and smuggling weapons into Israel. The security service also said that it charged two Palestinian citizens of Israel over their involvement in the plot. It did not specify how the men planned to target Ben-Gvir and the other politicians.
Ben-Gvir claimed that the Palestinian suspects had conspired to “assassinate a minister in Israel,” without clarifying whether he meant himself or another minister. He thanked Israeli security forces for uncovering and capturing what he called the “terrorist squad.”
Ben-Gvir, who has pushed for harsher treatment for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, also vowed to double down on his hard-line policies in response to the revelations. “I will continue to act fearlessly and even more vigorously for a fundamental change in the conditions of the terrorists’ imprisonment,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Israel has considered Iran to be its greatest enemy since it became a Shiite theocracy during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran is a main patron of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which Israel considers the most potent military threat on its borders, and also backs Palestinian Islamist militant groups in the Gaza Strip.
veryGood! (67398)
Related
- Sofía Vergara Responds After Joe Manganiello Says Her Reason for Divorce Is “Not True”
- Youngkin will visit Europe for his third international trade mission as Virginia governor
- Dairy cattle must be tested for bird flu before moving between states, agriculture officials say
- Tesla driver in Seattle-area crash that killed motorcyclist told police he was using Autopilot
- 'Business done right': Why the WWE-TNA partnership has been a success
- Stock market today: Asian shares track Wall Streets rally, led by a 2.4% jump in Tokyo
- Justice Department to pay $138.7 million to settle with ex-USA gymnastics official Larry Nassar victims
- Victoria Monét Reveals Her Weight Gain Is Due to PCOS in Candid Post
- Wildfires are growing under climate change, and their smoke threatens farmworkers, study says
- Chicago Bears will make the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft for just the third time ever
Ranking
- How you can get a free scoop of ice cream at Baskin Robbins Wednesday
- More Than a Third of All Americans Live in Communities with ‘Hazardous’ Air, Lung Association Finds
- A conservative quest to limit diversity programs gains momentum in states
- Columbia University making important progress in talks with pro-Palestinian protesters
- What Conservation Coalitions Have Learned from an Aspen Tree
- Chicago’s ‘rat hole’ removed after city determines sidewalk with animal impression was damaged
- How US changes to ‘noncompete’ agreements and overtime pay could affect workers
- Ancestry website to catalogue names of Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II
Recommendation
-
Alabama lawyer accused of sexually assaulting handcuffed inmate, lawsuit says
-
Shohei Ohtani showcases the 'lightning in that bat' with hardest-hit homer of his career
-
The NFL draft happening in Detroit is an important moment in league history. Here's why.
-
Dairy cattle must be tested for bird flu before moving between states, agriculture officials say
-
2025 COLA estimate dips with inflation, but high daily expenses still burn seniors
-
Blinken begins key China visit as tensions rise over new US foreign aid bill
-
Cicadas are making so much noise that residents are calling the police in South Carolina
-
Erik Jones to miss NASCAR Cup race at Dover after fracturing back in Talladega crash