Spies like them: Intelligence war between Iran, Israel Israel-Palestine conflict news

Alleged allegations against CIA officer Asif Rehman The October leak of US intelligence on Israeli preparations for a retaliatory strike on Iran has exposed a shadow war of espionage and counter-espionage between actors locked in decades of regional conflict.

Rehman is accused of leaking Iran based Telegram channel rejects Any relationship with the government of Iran, but this matter has already embarrassed the US administration Another officer, Jack Teixeira, was convicted.Leaking of Pentagon papers cannot be ruled out.

Rahman’s leaks provide a glimpse of the suspicious interactions between Iranian, Israeli and American spy agencies that have helped shape the current conflict and, almost as importantly, our perception of it.

catching spies

In late October, Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, said it had arrested seven Israeli citizens living in occupied East Jerusalem on suspicion of spying on behalf of Iran.

A day earlier, another seven Israeli citizens were arrested in Haifa on suspicion of aiding the enemy during the war, in this case, by Iran’s intelligence ministry.

Israeli police sources confirmed that more Iran-affiliated cells are suspected operating in the country.

This is not a new thing. In September, 73-year-old Israeli businessman Moti Maman was also accused by the Shin Bet and Israeli police of working with Iranian intelligence, after he allegedly bribed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other political figures in exchange for an advance payment of $1 million. Had offered to kill.

In contrast, Iran has arrested several of its citizens on charges of collaborating with the Israeli spy agency Mossad during Israel’s war on Gaza.

In December, Iran hangs three men and one woman accused of rape In Iran, Mossad carried out actions ranging from sabotage to kidnapping of Iranian security officials.

In September, in the wake of attacks attributed to Israel on the communications systems of Iran’s ally Hezbollah, Iran announced the arrest of 12 citizens accused of collaborating with Israel and planning attacks in the country.

Espionage in a changing world

While electronic intercepts, surveillance, and monitoring of social media have become valuable intelligence tools, human intelligence remains critical for information gathering and military targeting.

“Human intelligence plays a crucial role in the ongoing secret war between Israel and Iran,” said Sina Tousi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy.

“Both countries continue to engage in intelligence gathering along with espionage and counterintelligence to inform their broader strategic calculations,” he said.

The Israelis arrested in Haifa are accused of carrying out 600 to 700 intelligence-gathering missions for Iran over two years, including targeting a senior official – possibly for a possible assassination similar to Israel’s high-profile assassinations. , including the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas in Iran. july.

“In Iran, Israel demonstrated its capabilities through a series of high-profile assassinations and sabotage campaigns, often attributed to the deep penetration of the Mossad.

“On the other hand, Iran has made efforts to establish human intelligence networks in Israel, as highlighted by the recent arrest of several Israeli citizens accused of spying for Iran,” Toosi said.

turn the tide

Defense analyst Hamzeh Attar said Israel, a small and generally close-knit society, has long been considered almost impenetrable by foreign spy agencies.

However, the tensions of the current conflict, the rise of the extreme right and bitter divisions over 2023 judicial reforms supported by Netanyahu have acted on pre-existing social cleavages, resulting in fundamentally changed Israeli society.

Analysts have suggested that Iranian intelligence is infiltrating those divisions.

According to Attar, the first group of 14 agents arrested in Haifa had immigrated to Israel from Azerbaijan 10 years earlier and the second group were considered Arab Israelis and, therefore, slightly outside the Israeli mainstream.

“it [was] Very big,” he said.

“Israel is thought of as a single identity, taught from an early age that they are under constant threat of attack from their Arab neighbors.”

“If Iran can get these two groups to act on its behalf in Israel, they can do even more,” he said.

great game

Iran’s efforts to infiltrate Israeli society have only recently come to light, while Israel’s use of secret intelligence on Iran has long been covered.

Helping Israel’s efforts is Iran’s huge population, which dwarfs Israel’s on a scale of about 9.5 to 1, and the ongoing social and political fault lines in its society – with minorities reportedly not wearing headscarves correctly in 2022. From protesting against the death of Mahsa Amini due to wearing, they are demanding more rights.

Aharon Bregman of the Department of War Studies at King’s College London said, “Israel’s stated objective since the 1979 Iranian revolution has been to overthrow the regime from within.”

“It explains the way they work. Israel has had a long period to plan, recruit and prepare its intelligence within Iran,” he said.

On the contrary, Iran appears to have invested much of its long-term planning in assembling a network of allies, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, who provide it with information.

Intelligence activities appear to focus primarily on recruiting Palestinians working within Israel, where they often face prejudice, or relatively low risks of entering Israeli society through social media. Efforts have to be faced.

In January, Israeli sources claimed that Iranian intelligence was trying to take advantage of popular anger over judicial changes and the unknown fate of detainees taken in Gaza and persuade Israelis to photograph the properties of senior officials.

Still, “Israel’s intelligence operations within Iran appear to be much more developed and widespread,” Toosi said.

“The assassination of Iranian scientists, high-profile figures like Ismail Haniyeh, the sabotage of nuclear facilities, and Israel’s proven ability to carry out attacks inside Iran all highlight how effectively it has targeted the country’s most sensitive areas.” Intruded.”

chasing clicks

Analysts say that for Iran, crafting blatantly false stories with the intention of being picked up and publicized by an adversary spy agency, and then disproving and discrediting the adversary agency, could be a powerful weapon in the fight for influence. .

Veena Ali-Khan said, “Iran has a record of fabricating false stories for Western outlets – including foreign-based Persian-language outlets linked to Israel and Gulf countries, which it can prove to be false and more. Can gain credibility.” Said a fellow of the Century Foundation.

,[There] There were reports in the Israeli media that [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Brigadier General Esmail] Kani was either killed by Iran or detained for espionage purposes before he could be fully proven alive.

He said, “Once again, state media emphasized that the Western media… were completely wrong about Kani, reinforcing their argument that the Western media should not be trusted.”

deterrence

Bregman suggested that controlling the public narrative may be as important to maintaining deterrence as it may be to weakening your opponent.

“The Shin Bet and the police are deliberately publicizing these arrests. It’s about discouraging others,” he said, explaining an argument contrary to the privacy-driven security services of the popular imagination.

“They are publicizing their efforts. They are telling people that they are there, they will catch them.”

Similarly, Toosi pointed out, the publicity surrounding the recent arrests concealed a number of failures on the part of Israeli intelligence, not least its failure to predict the devastating Hamas-led attacks of October 7 last year.

“It is important to recognize that Israel and its supporting media often project an image of invincibility regarding Israeli intelligence that does not always align with reality,” he wrote by email, noting that the much-publicized pagers and walkie-talkies Timing of the attacks Hezbollah was forced to attack Israel in mid-September as concerns grew within the Mossad over the discovery of the operation.

“Despite Israel’s strategic successes, the perception of Israel’s invincibility in the covert sector or otherwise is significantly weakened by the country’s increasingly uncertain strategic situation.

“Israel’s intelligence capabilities are tremendous, but it still faces continued resistance and major challenges on many fronts,” he wrote.