Monday’s revelation that former minister Gonen Segev allegedly spied for Iran shocked Israel.
While he possible didn't transmit to the enemy info that might trigger nice hurt to Israel’s safety, the mere incontrovertible fact that the Islamic Republic’s secret service managed to recruit a senior member of the Jewish state’s authorities, somebody who might probably have been aware about extremely delicate materials, might be seen as a veritable achievement for Iran.
Just a few days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in late April, proudly revealed that the Mossad had obtained Iran’s secret nuclear archive in a gorgeous intelligence operation, the Shin Bet and Israel Police arrested Segev “on suspicion of having aided the enemy in wartime and spied against the State of Israel” and different crimes, the Shin Bet stated.
As said by the home intelligence company, in cost of counter-espionage, Segev has been in contact with Iranian officials since 2012 and has since twice been to Tehran to fulfill along with his handlers. Whether or not Segev offered Iran with helpful info, the mere incontrovertible fact that it took Israel a number of years to catch on may hurt its repute as an intelligence powerhouse.
The Shin Bet stated Segev gave his Iranian handlers, amongst different issues, details about Israel’s “energy economy, security sites in Israel, and diplomatic and security personnel and buildings.”
So far, nonetheless, plainly the regime shouldn't be notably desirous to have fun the Segev episode. In the hours after the information broke in Israel, Iranian media saved largely mum.
Only one Iranian information website, ISNA, reported on the disgraced former minister’s arrest, writing: “The Zionist regime is famous for faking files against Iran, and, after the violation of the [Iran nuclear deal] by the United States government, has recently launched a new round of Iranophobia. The experts have assessed this accusation [against Segev] as part of Netanyahu’s effort to create fake files against Iran.”
Former vitality minister Gonen Segev seen on the Supreme Court in Jerusalem for the attraction on his jail sentence on August 18, 2006. (Flash90)
Segev, who served as vitality and infrastructure minister between January 1995 and June 1996, is the highest-ranking Israeli official ever charged with spying on Israel. He joins a long of senior officials, together with MKs and top safety brass, who've been charged with treason by way of the many years, although the 62-year-old is the primary to have been credibly accused to have labored for Iran.
Just two years in the past, newly found KGB information revealed the existence of an intensive Soviet spy ring in Israel, encompassing Knesset members, senior IDF officers, engineers, members of the Israeli intelligence group, and others who labored on categorised initiatives.
MK Elazar Granot (Herman Chaia/GPO)
Two-term MK Elazar Granot, who within the 1980s served on the highly effective Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, was stated to have been recruited by the KGB earlier than the 1967 Six Day War, however the connection ended when the Russians closed their embassy in Israel in 1967.
As said by the data of Vasili Mitrokhin, a senior KGB archivist who defected to the UK in 1992 with a suitcase of secretd paperwork, Russian intelligence within the 1950s focused Israel’s ruling left-wing Mapam party. Moscow succeeded in recruiting at the very least three MKs.
Another alleged Israeli agent outed by Mitrokhnin was code-named “Boker” and was a senior engineer in a top-secret nationwide venture. A 3rd was “Jimmy,” who had entry to categorised details about the Israeli aerospace business, and was concerned in constructing the ill-fated Lavi plane. Another Soviet spy was half of the workforce behind Israel’s Merkava tank.
Perhaps essentially the most infamous Israeli spy was Marcus Klingberg, deputy director of the top-secret Israel Institute for Biological Research at Ness Ziona, south of Tel Aviv, and a professor of epidemiology at Tel Aviv University.
The Shin Bet arrested the Polish-born Klingberg in 1983, and subsequently charged him with having handed info to the KGB about Israel’s chemical and organic actions for 3 many years. He claimed to have spied for ideological causes, saying he felt he owed the Soviet Union a debt for its central position in defeating the Nazis. He spent almost 20 years in jail and handed away in 2015 at 97.
Another high-profile case of a high-ranking Israeli official discovered responsible of espionage was Yisrael Bar, a senior worker within the Defense Ministry. An Austrian-born former lieutenant colonel within the IDF, Bar too spied for the Soviet Union within the early 1960s. He was sentenced to 15 years in jail, and died behind bars.
Israel’s intelligence group has additionally needed to cope with double brokers.
Jerusalem-born Shimon Levinson was a colonel within the IDF and former head of the documentation part of the Military Intelligence Directorate. In the 1960s and 1970s, he labored for the Shin Bet and the Mossad in varied mid-level positions. In 1978, he retired from Israeli intelligence group and tried, unsuccessfully, to run a enterprise.
Driven by monetary worries, he provided to spy for the KGB, ultimately handing the Soviets a lot categorised materials in regards to the construction of the Israeli intelligence group.
“The information provided included names and details of units and sub-units, names of their chiefs as well as modus operandi,” the Shin Bet states on its web site. “Due to Levinson’s varied background, his familiarity with and access to top secret information, he was considered one of the highest-ranking KGB agents in Israel, causing Israel the gravest intelligence scathe.”
After the Mossad came upon Levinson was spying for the Russians, he was lured again to Israel and arrested in 1991. He was sentenced to 12 years in jail, the place he shared a cell with Klingberg.
Lessons from Levinson’s case have been “learnt and assimilated,” the Shin Bet went on, “thus contributing to a process of implementing new working procedures, safeguarding from similar future occurrences.”