Charge against Bnei Brak resident: Spying on Israeli nuclear scientist on behalf of Iran

October 31, 2024   

The State Attorney's Office filed an indictment with the Tel Aviv District Court this morning (Thursday) against Asher Benjamin Weiss, a resident of Bnei Brak, who is accused of following an Israeli nuclear scientist at the direction of Iranian agents with the aim of eliminating him. He is charged with the offenses of contacting a foreign agent, passing information to the enemy, and obstructing justice. The indictment states that Weiss was activated by an Iranian agent and carried out various tasks for him that could harm state security. At the direction and direction of the Iranian agent, Weiss used a GoPro camera to document the home and vehicle of an Israeli nuclear scientist, whose identity is not being published, and sent the documentation to the agent in order to promote the assassination plan. The Iranian agent sent the documentation to a young man from the Beit Safafa neighborhood in Jerusalem, who was tasked with carrying out the assassination plan. The indictment against the young man and 6 other defendants was filed last week with the Jerusalem District Court. The indictment also states that, at the direction of the Iranian agent, the defendant set fire to vehicles, threw pipes on Israeli roads, sprayed graffiti and hung hundreds of incendiary posters in Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan calling for civil disobedience. Weiss was required to prove to the Iranian agent that the tasks assigned to him were carried out, by taking and sending the photos and videos to the agent. The defendant carried out the actions in exchange for a total payment of thousands of dollars, which was made using cryptocurrencies. The prosecution is seeking to order Weiss' arrest until the end of the legal proceedings against him. "This case joins a series of serious indictments that have been filed in recent weeks, as part of an uncompromising struggle that the State Attorney's Office is waging against those who seek to harm the security of the state.".