Israel is caught in a paralyzing internal rupture. The war in Gaza, now the longest in its history, continues at this stage without a clear strategic goal or an end in sight. The fate of some 50 hostages remains unresolved, the confrontation with Iran is escalating, and the judicial overhaul has reemerged to further inflame internal divisions.
These overlapping crises are tearing at the already fragile fabric of Israeli society. The public is tired, disillusioned, and uncertain.
Within this fractured landscape, a new and troubling phenomenon has risen – a growing number of Israeli citizens betraying their homeland by spying for Iran.
Since early 2024, at least 39 Israelis have been arrested for aiding Iranian intelligence, with new cases coming to light almost every week. According to Israeli media, Iranian operatives have attempted to recruit almost 1,000 Israeli citizens, targeting a wide range of demographics, from teenagers and immigrants to discharged soldiers and retirees.
The overwhelming majority of those caught and accused of spying for Iran are Jewish men and women of all ages, from across the country.
The arrested knowingly agreed to carry out the tasks assigned to them and to pass military secrets to their Iranian handlers. These tasks ranged from photographing Iron Dome batteries and monitoring IDF movements to plotting attacks against politicians and scientists.
Arguably the most destructive tasks given to these spies were acts of civilian disturbance targeting various parts of Israeli society with one clear goal – undermining the delicate structure of this society from within. These operations were often facilitated through encrypted messaging apps and fake identities, with Iranian handlers posing as humanitarian activists.
Espionage is widely seen as one of the gravest national betrayals. In Israel, a nation bound by shared identity and constant external threats, acts of betrayal by Israeli citizens, some born and raised in the country, used to be virtually unheard of. Such acts are not merely breaches of security; they strike at the heart of national solidarity and reflect a deeper rupture in trust, belonging, and the cohesion that holds Israeli society together.
Whereas in the past acts of espionage in Israel were driven by ideology, for example, on behalf of the former Soviet Union, today it appears that those spying for Iran are motivated by entirely different reasons: pure greed combined with a sense of social alienation. These are no longer isolated breaches of national security but symptoms of a deeper social unraveling.
Is this a crisis of moral values? Or political and economic alienation driving marginalized citizens to betray their own country?
Deep social unraveling
There is a growing sense that Israelis today allow themselves to do things that in the past they would never have considered. That citizens would align with a regime openly committed to Israel’s destruction is a symptom of something deeper: a broken civic contract and a loss of shared purpose. Iran has unfortunately succeeded in cynically exploiting these internal rifts and conflicts within the Israeli society.
The recent exposure of Israeli spies working for Iran is likely only the tip of the iceberg. The growing number of cases uncovered in recent months, involving Israeli citizens (more Jews than Arabs), points to the possibility that additional Iranian espionage networks are still operating beneath the surface.
While these cases highlight troubling signs of internal division, it is important to remember that the overwhelming majority of Israelis remain deeply committed to their country and its values. Still, the emergence of such incidents cannot be ignored.
The threat may not lie in the acts themselves, but in what they reveal – a fracture that, if left unaddressed, could deepen.
Ignoring this trend would be a grave mistake. As the exposed acts of betrayal clearly show, if Israeli society fails to address the alienation, distrust, and erosion of common purpose at its core, no Iron Dome – however advanced – will protect the nation from betrayal from within.
The writer is a retired Israeli diplomat who served as ambassador to Hungary and Croatia, following a distinguished career in various senior diplomatic and strategic roles.