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.
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.
-
Starbucks workers are planning their ‘biggest strike’ everThe Explainer The union said 92% of its members voted to strike
-
‘These wouldn’t be playgrounds for billionaires’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The 5 best nuclear war movies of all timeThe Week Recommends ‘A House of Dynamite’ reanimates a dormant cinematic genre for our new age of atomic insecurity
-
Israel arrests ex-IDF legal chief over abuse video leakSpeed Read Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi had resigned from her post last week
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
-
Gaza’s reconstruction: the steps to rebuildingIn The Spotlight Even the initial rubble clearing in Gaza is likely to be fraught with difficulty and very slow
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
‘Extraordinary asymmetry’: the history of Israeli prisoner swapsIn The Spotlight Exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian detainees is the latest in a series of trades in which Israeli lives appear to count for more
-
Israel and Hamas meet on hostages, Trump’s planSpeed Read Hamas accepted the general terms of Trump’s 20-point plan, including the release of all remaining hostages
-
Netanyahu agrees to Trump’s new Gaza peace planSpeed Read At President Trump's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, they agreed upon a plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
