Tira resident accused of spying for Iran, refusing payment, urging missiles on hometown

Prosecutors allege Ahmad Da’as acted out of deep ‘hatred’ for Israel, sent Iranian agent information on military base, Ashdod port and power station, as well Tira municipality

State prosecutors on Thursday charged a 27-year-old Arab-Israeli truck driver with espionage for Iran, claiming he willingly provided information on sensitive sites out of deep animosity for Israel, even urging a missile strike on his hometown.

Tira resident Ahmad Da’as is accused of gathering intelligence for an Iranian operative he met online, and taking photos and videos of sites during his work driving across Israel. The activities took place during March, when Israel was under missile attack from Iran and the joint US-Israeli air campaign against the Islamic State.

Da’as was charged in the Lod-Central District Court with contact with a foreign agent and providing intelligence to the enemy.

Some of the sites he allegedly photographed were located in Ashdod and include the city’s port, the Eshkol Power Station and a building belonging to Israel Aerospace Industries. He also sent the agent the location of a northern base of Israel’s naval commandos.

Prosecutors allege that Da’as was offered payment for his activities but refused to take money out of his ideological commitment to assisting Iran during its war with Israel. Prosecutors said he was motivated by “his hatred of the State of Israel” and was fully aware that he was in contact with a person who intended to cause harm to the country. Citing the danger he poses, they requested that he be kept in custody until the end of legal proceedings.

According to the indictment, contact with the alleged agent, who called himself Abu Bakar, was via the Telegram app and the Session private messaging app.

On March 19, he allegedly held a video call with his Iranian handler while he was close to the Tira municipality. During the call, he showed the agent the building and the police station and also sent the agent videos of both sites, prosecutors said.

When the agent later in the month asked him to obtain information on other sites, he allegedly refused, telling his handler that he “is waiting for results” at the first place he sent, meaning the city hall and police station, and that he wants “that this place be the first target.”

Police said Bakar confessed to the offences he is accused of during interrogation.

Police and the Shin Bet security service said in a statement that the case “joins a series of recent cases that demonstrate repeated efforts by terrorist and hostile intelligence elements to recruit Israeli citizens to carry out missions intended to harm the security of the State of Israel and its residents.”

They warned citizens “against maintaining contact with foreign elements and carrying out missions for them. All security agencies and enforcement agencies will work to bring to justice all those involved in such activity.”

Recent years have seen scores of ordinary Israelis arrested on suspicion of carrying out tasks, usually intelligence gathering and vandalism, at the behest of Iran-linked agents they met online.

Iranian agents usually start out their recruits with relatively mundane tasks such as vandalism or the filming of public locations, which then escalate into more severe, sometimes even violent offenses.