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France 24
16-07-2025
- Politics
- France 24
‘Easy Money, Heavy Cost': Israel's advertising blitz warns its citizens against spying for Iran
Israel launched a national advertising campaign on Wednesday urging its citizens to resist the lure of spying for Iran, warning that the consequences far outweigh any financial reward. The unusual drive comes a month after Israel fought a 12-day war with Iran over its nuclear programme and follows an apparent surge in efforts by Tehran to recruit Israelis for espionage. Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran on June 13, killing top military commanders and nuclear scientists. Iranian authorities said Israel's air strikes killed more than 1,000 people across the country. A ceasefire between the two countries has been in place since June 24. The campaign, entitled "Easy Money, Heavy Cost," will run on radio, major internet sites, and social media platforms, and has been devised by Israel's Security Agency, known as the Shin Bet, and the National Public Diplomacy Directorate. In one of the two 20-second videos, a father is shown eating with his family, while the second shows another man having drinks with friends before a caption on the screen reads: "For 5,000 shekels is it worth ruining your life/family?" The 5,000 shekels ($1,490) is an apparent reference to how much Israelis have been paid for cooperating with Iran. The ad says people who took Iranian cash are now behind bars and warned that anyone helping Tehran faces up to 15 years in prison. "Easy money, heavy cost – don't help the Iranian enemy." The National Public Diplomacy Directorate said Shin Bet and police have uncovered more than 25 cases of Israelis allegedly recruited by Iran for intelligence missions over the past year, with over 35 people indicted on serious security charges. "The campaign carries significant national importance, especially in the aftermath of (the war with Iran), after which Iranian efforts to recruit operatives and execute missions inside Israel are expected to intensify," it said. For its part, Iran has executed several people over the past month after they were convicted of collaborating with Israel and facilitating covert operations in the country.
New York Times
10-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
U.K. Faces Rising Threat From Iranian Plots, Intelligence Committee Says
Britain faces a rising threat from Iranian espionage and assassination squads, a parliamentary intelligence committee said on Thursday, in a report that also warned of a growing risk from Iran to Jewish and Israeli targets on British soil. The Intelligence and Security Committee is made up of nine elected and unelected members of Parliament, and scrutinizes the work of Britain's secret services. It has access to senior figures in the intelligence world and to classified information. The report published Thursday, based on two years of interviews with British intelligence officers and classified documents, described a sharp increase in the physical threat posed to Iranian dissidents living in Britain. It said there had been at least 15 attempts to murder or kidnap British nationals or individuals based in Britain since the beginning of 2022. The committee finished taking evidence on the Iranian threat in 2023 but even then — before tensions heightened to their current level in the Middle East — it identified an increased risk to some Jewish and Israeli organizations in Britain. MI5 was quoted in the report as saying this was particularly the case 'where those individuals or targets are seen as undermining the Iranian regime.' The report said that Iran did not view attacks on Iranian dissidents, and Jewish and Israeli targets in Britain as attacks on Britain. 'It rather sees the U.K. as collateral in its handling of internal matters,' the report said. 'We encourage the government and its international partners to make it clear to Iran — at every opportunity — that such attacks would indeed constitute an attack on the U.K. and would receive the appropriate response.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
