In short
A 21-year-old American man has been indicted in Israel on espionage fees—the primary such case involving a U.S. citizen amid a broader wave of Iran-linked spying prosecutions.
Prosecutors say Lavon was recruited through Telegram, filmed delicate websites and left hidden gadgets with coded messages for Iranian handlers, and was paid in cryptocurrency.
Lavon faces fees of contact with a international agent and speaking data helpful to an enemy; his lawyer disputes that the conduct quantities to espionage.
An American citizen learning at an ultra-Orthodox seminary in Jerusalem has been indicted on espionage fees, in what authorities say is the primary prosecution of a U.S. nationwide amid a widening crackdown on Israelis recruited to spy for Iran.
Eli Lavon, 21, was formally charged Friday with two counts of contact with a international agent and 14 counts of speaking data that might profit an enemy, per an indictment filed by the State Lawyer’s Workplace, as reported by CNN.
Prosecutors allege the case started in November 2025, when Lavon, whereas visiting relations in the US, responded to a job posting on the Telegram messaging app. A month later, as he was returning to Israel, somebody claiming to symbolize Iranian intelligence made contact and commenced directing him to hold out surveillance duties, the indictment says.
These duties allegedly included filming an deserted constructing in a non secular Jerusalem neighborhood and recording footage inside a grocery retailer. In a single occasion, prosecutors say, Lavon was instructed to hide a cigarette pack containing a be aware studying “The job is full” in a trash can at a Jerusalem shopping center.
He was paid in cryptocurrency for the fabric he offered, speaking by means of two Telegram accounts and three telephones, in keeping with the costs.
After reducing off that contact, prosecutors say Lavon started speaking with a second Iran-linked handler, hiding a flash drive wrapped in foreign money at a restaurant and sending a photograph of his passport. That handler pressed him for names of fellow seminary college students, which Lavon declined to supply, the indictment states. Prosecutors say his mixed funds from each handlers totaled roughly $1,379.
“This indictment illustrates how international intelligence businesses try to take advantage of the digital sphere to determine, recruit, and function people from inside Israel,” stated Ronit Shentzer Yaakobi of the Jerusalem District Lawyer’s Workplace, “and the way essential it’s to stay vigilant and instantly sever contact when approached on this method.”
Lavon’s lawyer, Raz Bar Tzvi, instructed CNN that being contacted on-line by a international actor would not make somebody a spy, and argued the details described within the indictment do not assist the costs. He declined to say how his shopper would plead.
Israel has indicted roughly 60 individuals on Iran-related espionage fees since 2023; officers say a number of websites allegedly surveilled by such recruits had been later struck in Iranian missile assaults.
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