The prosecution filed an indictment on Monday with the Jerusalem District Court against Ali Jaber, aged 23, accusing him of knowingly maintaining contact with a foreign agent acting on behalf of Iranian intelligence and transmitting information that could be useful to the enemy.
Prosecutors also indicated they may seek a prison sentence if he is convicted.
According to the indictment, Jaber came into contact in January with a Telegram user identified as “Joan” after looking for temporary work in a Telegram group. The indictment says Joan offered him paid assignments and told him payment would be made through PayPal, after which Jaber opened an account on the platform and sent over a photograph of his identity card. The indictment says his account was then credited with about $80.
The first assignment described in the indictment was to photograph a traffic circle near Eilat’s central bus station.
Prosecutors say Jaber went to the location, informed Joan upon arrival, photographed the traffic circle with his cellphone, and sent the image via Telegram. A payment was then deposited into his PayPal account, according to the indictment.
At the time, the indictment says, Jaber was doing renovation work at Ovda Air Base in southern Israel. After learning this, Joan allegedly asked him for a picture of the base. The indictment states that while inside a room on the base, Jaber photographed the room and sent the image. Prosecutors say Joan then asked him to photograph the base grounds, the location of an Iron Dome system there, and the building where soldiers sleep.
The indictment says that at that point, Jaber suspected Joan was a foreign agent acting on behalf of Iran and decided to continue the contact in order to receive money, though he refused at that stage to photograph the base grounds themselves.
The charge sheet further alleges that the operative later asked Jaber for details of other people with access to Ovda. According to the indictment, Jaber said he did not know the other workers because he was new, but gave the operative his employer’s details along with an incorrect phone number.
Several days later, while driving home from the base, Jaber allegedly told the operative he had just left Ovda. The indictment says the operative again asked whether he had filmed the base grounds, and Jaber replied that he was afraid of being caught.
The operative then asked him to record the road from the base, and prosecutors say Jaber filmed a video lasting about 7 minutes showing the area and sent it via Telegram. The indictment says he received about $150 through PayPal in return.
Israeli refuses to complete Iranian intelligence mission
The indictment also describes a later assignment involving a house in Eilat’s Shahamon neighborhood.
Prosecutors say the operative sent map points and told Jaber to go to the house, photograph it, document the surrounding area – including entrances and exits – park far away, continue on foot, activate his phone’s location, and wear a second set of clothes that he would later throw away.
According to the indictment, Jaber refused to carry out that mission even after being offered about NIS 1,000 and receiving an advance of about $100.
The indictment says that after seeing the transfer, Jaber checked the sender’s details, saw the source was in Iran, and told the operative he was not interested in carrying out that task. After the payment, his PayPal account was allegedly blocked. Prosecutors say he returned the money and later asked why the account had been frozen.
The indictment says the operative then suggested switching to a digital wallet and told Jaber he would transfer the equivalent of the frozen balance if Jaber sent another video.
According to the indictment, the following day, while traveling from Eilat to Jerusalem, Jaber filmed another video, about 10 minutes long, from the road and sent it through Telegram. Prosecutors say the operative transferred the amount in the blocked PayPal account to Jaber's digital wallet. The indictment says the operative continued trying to assign Jaber further tasks in the following days, but Jaber avoided them.
The indictment charges Jaber with one count of contact with a foreign agent and three counts of delivering information to the enemy likely to be useful to it. Prosecutors also asked that his cellphone be forfeited if he is convicted, saying it was used to commit the offenses.