Details of Iran’s “Recruitment” of an Israeli and His Girlfriend to Carry Out an “Assassination” Operation

15th October 2024

3 minutes read

Details of Iran's "Recruitment" of an Israeli and His Girlfriend to Carry Out an "Assassination" Operation

This marks the second operation of its kind in Israel within a month, with the accusation being “recruitment by Iran to carry out assassination operations” in the country.

After announcing last month the arrest of a businessman who Israeli authorities said was “recruited by Iran to assassinate senior officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” a similar operation was revealed today, Monday.

The Details

Regarding the new operation, the Israeli Security Agency (Shabak) and the police issued a joint statement saying, “As part of a joint counter-intelligence activity by the Security Agency and the Lahav 433 unit of the police, an infrastructure of Iranian intelligence working to recruit and activate citizens in Israel was uncovered.”

They added, “In this context, Vladislav Viktorison, 30, a resident of Ramat Gan, was arrested for questioning.”

Investigations revealed that “Vladislav had been in contact since August via social media with a person named Mari Houssi, and the communication was in Hebrew.”

What Was Asked of the Recruited?

In the context of the mentioned relationship, “Vladislav, under the direction of the Iranian agent and knowing his identity, carried out various tasks including graffiti, hanging banners, burying money, and even burning vehicles in the Yarkon Park area in Tel Aviv,” according to the statement.

Later, “Vladislav was asked to sabotage communication infrastructures and ATMs, set fire to forests, and some of the specified tasks were documented, with over $5000 paid for their execution.”

According to the investigations, “Vladislav agreed to carry out a mission to assassinate a person in Israel, throw a hand grenade at one of the houses, and then worked on obtaining weapons, including sniper rifles, pistols, and hand grenades.”

And His Girlfriend Too

To carry out his tasks, the Shabak clarified that Vladislav “recruited other citizens, including his partner Anna Bernstein, 18, a resident of Ramat Gan, who participated in executing some of the tasks.”

The Shabak noted that “Iranian intelligence agencies are active on social media as a platform for randomly recruiting Israelis to carry out various missions.”

It stated, “Although these missions may initially appear innocent, they involve a real risk of causing harm to national security.”

It emphasized that a large number of Israeli citizens who received suspicious inquiries did not respond but reported them to the relevant authorities.

The statement noted that as part of “the activities of the Shabak and the police, several infrastructures of Iranian intelligence working to recruit Israeli citizens for various missions have been uncovered in recent months, culminating in actions harmful to individuals in Israel.”

A senior official, who was not named, was quoted as saying that “numerous fake Iranian profiles were identified and monitored on social media, and information was collected about the agents involved in activating them.”

The disclosure of this activity led to “the arrest and questioning of Israeli citizens who attempted to carry out missions.”

The name of the Israeli personality that the Iranian agent requested to be assassinated was not disclosed.

Last month, Israeli authorities announced the arrest of a businessman whom they said was “recruited by Iran to assassinate senior officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” Tehran has not commented on this so far.

Context of Escalation

So far, Iran has not commented on this information, which comes at a time when the region is experiencing significant escalation that could herald a wide-scale regional war.

Last week, Iran launched an attack on Israel with dozens of ballistic missiles in response to the deaths of leaders in the Revolutionary Guard, Hamas, and Lebanese Hezbollah.

While Israel vowed to respond, Iran has also threatened retaliation.