A former Israeli cabinet minister has been arrested on suspicion of spying for Iran, according to Israel’s Shin Bet security agency.
Gonen Segev, 62, who served as energy and infrastructure minister in the 1990s, was “recruited and acted as an agent on behalf of Iranian intelligence”, Shin Bet says.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Segev has denied he was working out of “ideological or financial motivation”, reports The Times of Israel, and claimed he was “instead trying to act as a double-agent and spy on the Iranians”.
He was reportedly arrested while attempting to travel to Equatorial Guinea in May, and has been in custody since.
Segev, who is also a doctor, was charged in 2004 with “trying to smuggle 30,000 ecstasy tablets into Israel from the Netherlands, using a diplomatic passport with a falsified expiry date”, Al Jazeera reports.
He was released from prison in 2007, before moving to west Africa.
-
August 23 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include deficit dimness, steamroller-in-chief, and more
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purgeCartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?
In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
The IDF's manpower problemThe Explainer Israeli military's shortage of up to 12,000 troops results in call-up for tens of thousands of reservists
-
Trump halts Gaza visas as Israelis protest warSpeed Read Laura Loomer voiced her concerns over injured Palestinian kids being brought to the US for treatment and a potential 'Islamic invasion'
-
Israeli security cabinet OKs Gaza City takeoverSpeed Read Netanyahu approved a proposal for Israeli Defense Forces to take over the largest population center in the Gaza Strip
-
An ancient Israeli cave teaches new archaeological lessonsThe Explainer The cave is believed to be one of the world's oldest burial sites
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
Israeli NGOs have started referring to Gaza as a 'genocide' — will it matter?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION For the first time since fighting began in 2023, two Israeli rights groups have described their country's actions in the Gaza Strip as 'genocide' while famine threatens the blockaded Palestinian territory
-
28 nations condemn Israel's 'inhumane killing' in GazaSpeed Read Countries including Australia, France, Japan and the U.K. have released a joint statement condemning Israel's ongoing attacks
