The Supreme Court has convicted an Israeli civilian of spying for Iran, after ruling that overall circumstances establish beyond reasonable doubt that 'Rambod,' with whom the female defendant had been in contact, was acting on behalf of an enemy state.
The charges against the individual included contact with a foreign agent and the transmission of key information to the enemy indictment.
The alleged contact between the Israeli woman and the Iranian intelligence agent, 'Rambod,' took place from 2014 to 2018.
The Iranian agent presented himself as a single Muslim man from Tehran with an interest in Judaism, according to the indictment.
During their four-year correspondence, the Israeli woman sent information to him, including documentation of public buildings in Israel, details about security personnel, and images of sensitive facilities. This happened despite the fact that the defendant suspected 'Rambod' was working on behalf of the Iranian regime.
Originally, the Jerusalem District Court convicted the defendant of contact with a foreign agent, but acquitted her of the charge of transmitting information that could benefit the enemy. This was due to the presence of reasonable doubt that 'Rambod' was indeed acting on behalf of Tehran.
Caution against contact with foreign agents
The State Attorney’s Criminal Department appealed this, saying the evidence clearly showed that 'Rambod' was acting on behalf of Iranian intelligence. Part of the submitted correspondence showed Rambod’s keen interest in security-related information, which, as the indictment states, "reinforced the conclusion that he was a hostile operative."
The Supreme Court ruled: “The way Rambod presented himself to the defendants; the similar backgrounds of the women he chose to contact; the topics he expressed interest in during their conversations; the tasks he assigned; the types of information he sought; his attempts to locate family members of the defendants who were employed in security bodies; his efforts to persuade the defendant and another woman to recruit their sons to Military Intelligence; his avoidance of revealing his identity; his proposals to meet some of the women in Turkey; and the financial compensation he offered for completing these tasks—all these lead to one unequivocal and logical conclusion: this was a foreign agent acting on behalf of, or in service to, the Iranian enemy. It is no coincidence that the defendant stated in her police interrogation that she was 99% certain Rambod was linked to the Iranian regime… Indeed, if someone looks like an Iranian agent and acts like an Iranian agent—he is an Iranian agent.”
The State Attorney’s Office warned Israeli citizens to exercise caution when contacting foreign parties, and iterated that "transmitting sensitive information to hostile entities—even if seemingly done innocently—can endanger national security."