Israel charges Dead Sea hotel worker with spying for Iran
Israeli prosecutors on Sunday indicted a 23-year-old hotel worker from Tiberias on charges of spying for Iran, in the latest in a series of espionage cases tied to Iran over the past months.
Israeli prosecutors on Sunday indicted a 23-year-old hotel worker from Tiberias on charges of spying for Iran, in the latest in a series of espionage cases tied to Iran over the past months.
The man identified as Yosef Ein-Eli has been accused of sharing photos of tourist sites near the Dead Sea with Iranian agents and agreeing to collect intelligence on government officials and military personnel, authorities said on Sunday.
According to a joint statement from the Shin Bet and Israel Police, the suspect who worked at a hotel near the Dead Sea allegedly maintained contact with Iranian handlers since late 2024, sending them images of hotels and tourist areas in southern Israel in exchange for digital payments.
He allegedly received approximately 10,000 shekels (about $3,100), according to Ynet.
Investigators said the agents also asked Ein-Eli to gather information about National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, organized crime groups and IDF soldiers, though he reportedly did not complete those tasks.
They also allegedly encouraged him to carry out violent acts, including throwing a grenade and setting cars on fire.
Ein-Eli was arrested in September following a joint investigation by the Shin Bet and the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit and was indicted Sunday in Beersheba District Court.
The case is the latest in a growing number of espionage prosecutions linked to Iran, as Israeli security agencies warn that Tehran has increasingly recruited Israeli citizens through social media platforms such as Telegram especially since the outbreak of Gaza war in 2023.
“The Iranian regime has an interest in a continuous conflict with Israel,” said Palestinian political analyst Khalil Sayegh. “The Palestinians have been used as pawns in this game very cynically."
US President Donald Trump’s administration is advancing a 21-point postwar framework for Gaza, unveiled earlier this month. The plan rules out any political or military future for Hamas — the Iranian-backed group that has ruled the enclave since 2007 — and proposes Arab-led reconstruction under international supervision.
The plan has been described by regional analysts as a potential turning point — one that could further erode Iran’s leverage after the fall of its key Arab ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Sayegh's father died during the war due to what he described as medical neglect due to Israeli attacks on health facilities and lack of access to medical care. His sister too lost her life while en route to Egypt on a so-called safe route designated by Israel where he says were barred from entering.
Despite his loss, he co-founded the Agora Foundation for Middle East Peace, an initiative that aims to promote a lasting peace, equal rights and prosperity for both Palestinians and Israelis.
Tehran’s support for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Sayegh said, has long played into the hands of Israeli hardliners.
“Since day one, the extremists in the region have been feeding each other,” he said. “The Israeli right-wing extremists are on the record saying that Hamas is good for us and therefore we have to support them and fund them. The existence of the Iranian regime has been weaponized and used by Benjamin Netanyahu for so long.”
Hamza Howidy, also a Gaza-born activist who was twice imprisoned by Hamas before fleeing the enclave in 2023, said resentment toward Iran is widespread among ordinary Gazans.
“There is a huge, huge hate for the Iranian regime inside Gaza because those people see the Iranian regime as number one, the financer and the reason why Hamas is still there,” he said.
Howidy recalled how Gazans reacted after the death of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May 2024, which led to the election of Masoud Pezeshkian.
“When the Hamas affiliated people tried to make a poster for him inside Gaza during the war, the civilians themselves decided to go to take down this poster,” he said.
A shifting regional context
Both Sayegh and Howidy said Israeli claims of an expanding Iranian role in the West Bank are often exaggerated.
Sayegh said Iran’s ability to move weapons or influence groups in the West Bank has sharply diminished. “They keep trying from what I know, but I don’t think they will succeed,” he said. “They lost Syria — that was their biggest front to claim they’re coming to liberate Palestine.”
Iran’s role in sustaining Palestinian divisions has undermined every path toward peace, Sayegh told Iran International's podcast Eye for Iran.
“Iran has maintained the Palestinian division between the West Bank and Gaza,” Sayegh said. “That has been used by the Israeli regime to argue that a two-state solution is not possible because of the Iranian funding to Hamas.”
Iran’s shrinking reach
Both men said Iran’s influence is diminishing as its proxy network weakens across the region — a further blow to Tehran’s ambitions after two years of devastating war which followed Hamas-led attacks into Israel on October 7, 2023.
The assault killed 1,200 Israelis and brought over 200 others back into Gaza as captives. Israel's devastating incursion into the enclave killed at least 67,000 people.
“I think (Iran) will be weakened tremendously because of the incidents that happened during the past two years,” Howidy said. “I’m talking about the end of the Syrian regime, the notorious Bashar al-Assad and his regime, and then to the defeat or deterrence of Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
The recent recognition of a Palestinian state by Canada, France, Italy, and Britain, Sayegh said, would remove Tehran’s main ideological justification for interference.
“When a Palestinian state emerges," he said, "the Iranian regime would lose its biggest ideological weapon that they are using—the grievances of the Palestinian people and its weaponization to justify its neo-imperialism in the region and to justify its repression of the Iranian people."
You can watch the full episode of Eye for Iran on Youtube or listen on any podcast platform of your choosing.
The intelligence shows Hezbollah is restocking rockets, antitank missiles and artillery through seaports and smuggling routes that still operate in parts of Syria, the people said. Some of the new weapons are made in Lebanon by Hezbollah itself, one of the people said.
The rearmament defies the terms of the cease-fire agreement that required Lebanon to begin disarming Hezbollah south of the Litani River. Instead, Hezbollah has resisted, saying its weapons are essential to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Israel, which has provided intelligence to help Lebanese forces disarm Hezbollah and carried out more than 1,000 strikes against the group since last November, is growing impatient, the people said. One person familiar with the matter said the Israeli government was angered to learn the issue had shifted from disarmament to rearmament only months after the truce began.
US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said in October that Israel could act unilaterally if Beirut delays further, warning of grave consequences. Lebanese leaders have appealed for patience through American and Arab intermediaries and signaled willingness to expand coordination with Israel despite the two states remaining technically at war.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said in a recent television interview that attempts to disarm the group should be resisted but that it seeks to avoid another war. He said Hezbollah has not retaliated to Israeli strikes since the truce began.
The cease-fire followed a two-month Israeli campaign last year, triggered when Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel after Hamas’s 2023 attack. Thousands of airstrikes crippled the group’s infrastructure and killed many of its commanders.
Hezbollah deepens ties in Latin America as Iran faces strain
While Hezbollah rebuilds its military power at home, the group is also reinforcing its global funding base.
US experts told senators last week that Hezbollah is expanding its financial and criminal networks in Latin America, particularly in Venezuela, as Iran struggles under economic pressure. Matthew Levitt, a terrorism analyst, said Hezbollah has long relied on diaspora and illicit trade networks to raise money when funding from Tehran slows.
Lawmakers warned that Venezuela has become a hub for Hezbollah’s drug and finance operations. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse said the group is “one of Iran’s tools to destabilize and terrorize,” urging stronger action to cut its financial lifelines. Others called on Latin American governments to follow Argentina, Colombia, and Paraguay in designating Hezbollah as a terrorist group.
