The State Attorney’s Office today (Monday) filed a serious indictment with the Haifa District Court against Ami Gaidarov, 22, from Haifa, along with three additional defendants, on charges of severe security offenses as part of an espionage case for Iran.
According to the indictment, a troubling picture emerges of an Israeli young man who acted on his own initiative together with intelligence operatives in Tehran, collected information for them, and even planned to harm public figures, including former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
Gaidarov is accused of communicating via Telegram with a handler identifying himself as “Ben," and carrying out intelligence-gathering missions in exchange for payment in cryptocurrency totaling about 100,000 shekels. The missions included documenting missile impact sites in Haifa during the war and systematically manufacturing explosives. According to the indictment, Gaidarov “produced explosives almost daily, reaching a total of about 10 kilograms," intended for carrying out attacks and targeting Bennett. The three additional defendants are accused of assisting him in acquiring equipment and storing the explosives.
His conduct is described in the indictment as particularly extreme. After a significant portion of the explosives he had produced was lost, he contacted his Iranian handler and offered “to serve as a suicide bomber to prove his seriousness," but the handler rejected the proposal. Additionally, Gaidarov conducted a test detonation of an improvised explosive device in an underground parking lot and attempted to conceal evidence by burying phones and destroying memory cards documenting his activities.
He was arrested last month following intensive operations by security forces. The indictment states that he continued his hostile activities even during the war with Iran, exploiting air-raid sirens and missile impacts in his area to reach strike sites and document them for his handlers. The state is expected to request that he and his accomplices remain in custody until the conclusion of legal proceedings against them.