Israeli businessman demanded $1 million to kill Netanyahu, other leaders, police say

(LONDON) — Israeli police and intelligence services said they foiled an Iranian plot to assassinate top leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Moti Maman, a 73-year-old Israeli businessman from the city of Ashkelon, is accused of twice smuggling himself into Iran via Turkey to meet with intelligence officials directing would-be plots from Tehran.

The discussions allegedly included potential plans to attack Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Shin Bet intelligence chief Ronen Bar and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, among others.

Police and Shin Bet said the alleged plots were intended as retaliation for the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Hanieyh in Tehran in July, which Iran blamed on Israel.

A joint police and Shin Bet statement also accused Maman of discussing the possibility of acting as a money courier for others in Israel, locating Russian and American elements for the elimination of Tehran’s opponents in Europe and the U.S. and recruiting a Mossad “double agent.”

Maman’s purported contacts were an Iranian businessman named only as Eddie, a man named Hajjah who was presented as an Iranian intelligence agent and other unnamed intelligence personnel.

The 73-year-old is alleged to have traveled to Iran twice — in May and August 2024 — following preparatory meetings with representatives of Eddie in Turkey, the first of which took place in the southern city of Samandag in April 2024, police said.

Maman was smuggled through the Turkey-Iran border twice, the second time “hidden inside a truck cabin,” the statement said.

“The Israeli citizen demanded an advance payment of $1 million dollars before performing any action,” police and Shin Bet said. “Iranian agents refused his request and informed him they would contact him in the future.”

Maman allegedly received the equivalent of about $558,000 in euros for attending the meetings with Iranian intelligence personnel.

Authorities indicted Maman on Sept. 19.

A senior Shin Bet official described the case as “very serious,” adding that security assessments “suggest that Iranians will continue their efforts to recruit operatives in Israel for intelligence gathering and carrying out terrorist missions in Israel, including approaching individuals with criminal backgrounds to fulfill these tasks.”