Asher Benjamin Weiss, a resident of Bnei Brak who was accused of spying for Iran, gave his version of the charges against him - claiming that he "played a role" and lied to the Iranians, in order to pretend that he was carrying out the instructions given to him.
Weiss, 25 years old, newly married with no children, is originally from Moshav Halkia in the Shephelah region.
According to a report on Channel 12, Weiss said during the investigation that he had no intention of harming Israel and that he "loves the country.".
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He said he was unaware that he was communicating with an Iranian official, and that it was only during the investigation that the picture became clear to him. "I was not aware of the identity of the person who contacted me, I only discovered it after the arrest.".
Weiss also stated that he carried out most of the tasks only partially or in a way that would not harm anyone, some of them were carried out at all in a remote settlement in the south. For example, when it was necessary to do graffiti, he photographed old inscriptions, or wrote and immediately erased them, and when it was necessary to dispose of pipes with nails, he simply laid the pipes down, without nails.
The defendant also claimed to investigators that he did not photograph the Weizmann Institute, but rather photographed "from the outside" the house of a physicist who lived in the complex. Weiss explained that he was trying to follow a physicist, not a nuclear scientist, and hence claimed that there was no high-security target for the photograph he took.
In the security camera footage published on Channel 12, police investigators can be seen arriving and raiding a building in Ramat Gan to arrest Weiss.
At the same time, in the building's WhatsApp group, the frightened residents tried to figure out what was happening. "Armed men just entered the building. 3 masked men with security written on them," wrote one resident.
Another resident added: "I heard shouts of 'police'.".
The residents were still trying to figure out what was going on, not knowing that in the same building they live in there is a person who will be accused of spying for Iran. "I don't understand!! Where are they going??" wrote one of the residents. "I wonder what happened there. Does anyone know?".
In additional documentation, you can see how the vehicle of one of Weiss' family members was towed.
