A Nazareth mother of four was arrested in March for allegedly spying for Iran in exchange for hundreds of dollars, the Shin Bet and Israel Police revealed on Wednesday.

The suspect, Shuma Abu Aabed, was in contact with a foreign agent and carried out numerous security-related tasks in exchange for payment. Prosecutors say that she photographed the oil refineries in Haifa, a Home Front Command base in Nazareth, the Golani Brigade memorial, and other sensitive security sites in Israel, and even sent live location data for the sites. She also transferred information about an Israeli citizen who is a former security official and photographed commercial centers, buildings, and military locations in Nazareth and sent coordinates and visual documentation.

According to the indictment, Abu Aabed exploited her access to Transportation Ministry databases through her job at a company that provided services to the ministry to carry out some of the missions. She provided details about her workplace, how the systems operate, and provided visual documentation.

Investigators said that she continued carrying out the missions despite suspecting early on that she was being directed by Iranian agents.

In addition, she sent a link to the Home Front Command recruitment website and wrote: “In my opinion, a simple and quick plan, an attack on the next generation. Destroying it is destroying the future. A filthy people, there is no need for training or recruiting children the size of adults, defeating an entire generation, just as they have always acted in their oppression.” In the same conversation, she sent links to the Golani Brigade Facebook page and website. The foreign agent instructed her not to search for information about sensitive military bases online due to the sensitive situation in the country and the fear that their activity would be exposed.

Abu Abed admitted to the charges, and there is extensive supporting evidence, including documentation from her cellphone.

Staff Sergeant Rasha Khalil, a senior investigator in the Northern District Central Unit who investigated the espionage case, said: “This is a defendant with no prior criminal record, a mother of four, who worked at a service center providing support to the Ministry of Transportation. She extracted information from the database and transferred it to a hostile entity — and received a thousand dollars for it. In her interrogation, she expressed remorse and said she knew she had made a mistake and should not have done it. She claimed she acted out of financial motives, receiving about 4,500 shekels for her actions.

“The defendant was arrested at her home. She did not share her serious actions with any family member. She understands that her life has been ruined because of this affair. In one of the recordings we found, she cursed Jews. I asked her, ‘What did the Jews do to you? Why do you hate Jews and the state?’ She claimed that the state is responsible for her difficult economic situation. We also found messages expressing hatred toward Arab Israelis who work for the state. She began her contact with the foreign operative about six months ago, and it continued for about five months. Anyone who assists the enemies of the state should expect us to show up at their door at night. This is a mission with zero tolerance for us, and we will reach every Israeli who cooperates with our enemies.”

An indictment was filed against her at the Nazareth District Court on Wednesday, along with a request to detain her until the end of legal proceedings.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)