Iran tried to plant agent in Israeli political echelon, police say

Monsters & Critics:

Israeli police and the Shin Bet internal security organization have arrested the former head of a local council in the Galilee on suspicion of spying for Iran, local media reported Friday night after a ban on publication was lifted.

Jaris Jaris, 57, head of the Fasuta local council from May 2001 to November 2003, was detained on December 12, after police discovered that he had been recruited by Iran and asked to use his political contacts to infiltrate the Israeli political system. READ MORE

Police said Jaris fled Israel for Lebanon in 1970 after being caught operating a cell of the Palestinian Fatah organization, which was then banned by Israel. He returned to the country in 1996 and in late 2004 met a man in Cyprus who he admitted was from Iranian intelligence.

According to the police, Jaris was asked to infiltrate the Israeli political system, create political contacts and join an existing Israeli political party. He became a member of the dovish Meretz- Yahad party and expressed interest in becoming a member of the Knesset (parliament).

The report on Jaris was cleared for publication after a municipal judge in Acre, northern Israel, accepted a request by the Ha'aretz daily for the military censor to lift a ban on publication of the affair.