Israeli authorities have filed an indictment against a 14-year-old boy from central Israel on charges of espionage for Iran, the State Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday, marking the latest in a string of cases in which Iranian intelligence has recruited Israeli civilians through social media to carry out surveillance and intimidation operations.

The boy, whose identity is being withheld because he is a minor, allegedly made contact in April 2025 with a handler on Telegram who had posted what appeared to be a job listing. The two agreed that the teenager would carry out tasks in exchange for cryptocurrency payments deposited into a digital wallet.

The assignments, according to the indictment, included spraying graffiti reading “We are committed to the alliance” in several areas of Tel Aviv and on parked cars, filming the streets near Ichilov Hospital and neighborhoods in Ramat Gan, and recording video of the Tel Aviv skyline in which the location of the Kirya military base was identified. He was also asked to rent an apartment near the base and sent his handlers a photo of a listing after speaking with landlords in the area.

In one of the more brazen alleged assignments, the boy was instructed to spray-paint the home of Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar with the message “We take revenge in turn! Children of Ruhalla” and to prepare a video documenting the minister’s movements. The indictment notes that the teenager told his handlers he could not carry out the task during school hours but would do so during his free time.

Over the course of his activities, the minor opened four digital wallets into which his contacts transferred a total of more than $1,170, the indictment states. After being brought in for questioning, he allegedly attempted to convince a classmate to lie during interrogation and falsely claim ownership of the seized cryptocurrency funds.

Just last week, prosecutors filed an indictment against Raz Cohen, a military reservist from Jerusalem who served in the Iron Dome air defense system, for passing sensitive security information to Iranian handlers on Telegram over a period of several months. Cohen allegedly provided details about how the Iron Dome operates, the structure of its batteries, and arming and launch procedures, along with photos and video he recorded during his service. He also reportedly supplied the locations of air force bases and Iron Dome batteries and provided personal details of other individuals he identified as potential recruits.

The cases underscore the extent to which Iran has turned to social media platforms — Telegram in particular — to recruit agents inside Israel, targeting both adults with access to military systems and minors willing to carry out street-level surveillance and provocations for relatively small sums of money.

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