Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man convicted of spying for Iran: Israeli media
Iran Press TV
Monday, 15 September 2025 11:14 AM
An Israeli court has convicted a 22-year-old Jewish man from Bet Shemesh, near al-Quds, of spying for Iran, according to Israeli media.
Elimelech Stern, a Haredi yeshiva student, was found guilty of contact with a foreign agent and conspiring to make threats after carrying out several missions for an allegedly Iranian intelligence agent in exchange for cryptocurrency, the Jerusalem Post reported on Monday.
During interrogations by the Israeli regime's internal spy agency, Shin Bet, Stern allegedly admitted to being in contact with his operator, who used the alias Anna Elena, over the Telegram social media platform.
However, in court, he insisted that he did not know he was communicating with a "foreign actor" and said he had not been informed of his rights by the Israeli regime's authorities.
He stated that his rights were violated by the spy agency during interrogations and requested that his testimony be dismissed.
According to Judge Hannah Miriam Lump, Stern recruited two other Israeli settlers to assist him with tasks assigned by his handler.
At the agent's request, Stern allegedly enlisted one accomplice to print and post fliers with bloodied palm prints and the English phrase, "It will be written in history that children were killed, let's stand on the right side of history."
The accomplice took photos of himself hanging the fliers in Tel Aviv in early June 2024 and sent them to Stern, who then forwarded them to the agent, the report said.
The report claimed that Stern also planned in June 2024 to leave a threatening package on the doorstep of Ronen Shaul, Israel's representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but did not do so.
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