JERUSALEM
(Via Reuters) - Israel said on Wednesday it had cracked a Palestinian militant cell
suspected of having been recruited and handled by Iranian intelligence
officers
who worked out of South Africa, but the suspects’ lawyer denied the charges.
Israel has
long been locked in a shadow war with arch-foe Iran, which supports Islamist
guerrillas in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and whose nuclear program is widely
believed to have been targeted repeatedly by Israeli saboteurs.
Israel’s
Shin Bet security agency said three Palestinians from the occupied West Bank
had been indicted on espionage and terrorism charges after they confessed to
accepting Iranian-assigned missions, including preparation of a suicide bombing
and providing their handlers with Israeli cellphone SIM cards.
In its
statement, the Shin Bet said the suspects’ point of contact was a Palestinian
who lived in South Africa and had been recruited by Iranian intelligence. It
gave no indication whether the South African government knew of the alleged
Iranian activity, or of the Palestinian expatriate’s whereabouts.
South Africa,
where pro-Palestinian sentiment is strong, has strained relations with Israel,
but the Shin Bet statement also suggested the country effectively served as an
Iranian spy hub.
“It became
clear, during the the Shin Bet investigation, that Iranian intelligence used
South Africa as a significant arena for locating, recruiting and running
anti-Israel agents in the West Bank,” the Shin Bet said, adding that several
Iranian officers had traveled there “from Tehran” for the operation.
South
Africa’s Foreign Ministry and Home Affairs Ministry, and the Iranian embassy in
Pretoria, did not immediately respond to the Israeli allegations.
DENIAL OF
CHARGES
The three
Palestinians were arrested in November and a trial date has yet to be set,
their lawyer, Munther Abu Ahmed, said.
“The three
young men denied the charges against them,” Abu Ahmed told Reuters. Two of them
had been in touch with a relative in South Africa “about business and
commercial issues,” he said, adding that their most recent meeting was in July 2016.
“We are in
2018 and none of the three men has done anything, and that refutes the charges
against them,” Abu Ahmed said.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters on Wednesday the case showed
that “Iran operates in a subversive and terrorist manner ... not just in aiding
terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, but also in attempts
to organize terror activities within the State of Israel against its
civilians”.
A Shin Bet
veteran interviewed by Israel Radio about the case suggested the purported
South African link may be unprecedented.
“Apparently
the Iranians found fertile ground in South Africa,” said ex-officer Adi Carmi,
adding: “I do not recall South Africa ever having been used by the Iranians as
a terrorist recruiting ground for the aim of carrying out attacks.”
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