Iranian spies tasked Israeli citizen with delivering severed animal head, Shin Bet says

An Israeli citizen has been charged with colluding with Iranian spies, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency and police announced in a joint statement Tuesday.

An Israeli citizen has been charged with colluding with Iranian spies, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency and police announced in a joint statement Tuesday. Twenty-one-year-old Elimelech Stern is suspected of completing “missions” given to him by a social media user with the pseudonym “Anna Elena” in exchange for cryptocurrency rewards. The suspect, charged Tuesday, was tasked with posting public notices in Tel Aviv, hiding money in various locations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and delivering packages containing threatening messages, including a severed head of an animal, to the doorsteps of Israeli citizens, and completed the tasks, the Israel Security Agency (ISA) and the police said. The ISA, also known as Shin Bet or Shabak, is Israel’s domestic security agency. Stern was also asked to start a forest fire and kill someone, according to the joint statement, but did not carry out these tasks. The security authorities allege that Stern recruited and paid two additional Israeli citizens to perform some of the tasks. The two other citizens were interrogated and released from custody at the end of their investigation while they await a decision on their case, the authorities said.