It was permitted to publicize that in recent months a network that recruited people in Israel, Judea, and Samaria for the benefit of Iranian intelligence has been exposed in joint activities of the Israel Security Agency, the Israel Police, the IDF, and other security forces.
The network operated from Syria, was directed by Iran, and led by a Syrian entity known as Abu-Jihad. It tried to recruit people by creating initial contacts from fictitious Facebook profiles, and later by managing communications via messaging applications.
Using social networks is a method known to intelligence agencies as being used by terror organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah, to recruit operatives.
The incident joins others in recent months, in which it appears that terror elements including Hamas and Hezbollah have contacted, sometimes repeatedly, Israeli and PA Arabs via the Internet, to recruit them for purposes of intelligence-gathering and terror activity.
The recruitment targets were asked to gather information on military bases, sensitive security installations, personnel, police stations, hospitals, etc., as part of preparing targets for terror attacks in Israel on Iranian initiative.
The networking activity was detected and monitored by the Israeli intelligence community from its inception, while closely monitoring operators abroad and those in Israel, Judea, and Samaria who expressed willingness to cooperate with them.
As of April 2019, a broad counter-terror operation was implemented against operatives in Israel, Judea, and Samaria in which a number of Israeli citizens were involved, the information indicating that they had been contacted and recruited by Iranian network operators.
In the context of the investigations, information emerged that the connection with the operators from Syria had developed into the level of actual information transfer, and even an intention to carry out terror activities against Israeli targets, both civilian and military.
However, the preventive measures carried out revealed that the vast majority of Israeli citizens refused to cooperate with them because they suspected it was a hostile element and cut off contact with them.
An Israeli who receives a request from a network that he suspects is related to a terror body or organization is requested to inform the police and to disconnect from that party immediately.