HAIFA, Israel (VINnews) – A Haifa District Court sentenced a 28-year-old local resident to eight and a half years in prison Monday after convicting him of contacting a foreign agent and attempting to pass sensitive information to Iran and its terrorist proxies during wartime.

Dimitri Cohen was arrested in May 2025 in a joint operation by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Israel Police Coastal District Central Unit. Prosecutors said he performed tasks for a foreign operative posing as a private investigator.

According to the indictment, Cohen was seeking work online in spring 2025 when a man identifying himself as “David” offered him $500 per task, paid in cryptocurrency. “David” claimed to operate a private investigation firm called “Jupiter” that handled infidelity cases and first assigned Cohen surveillance work in Tirat Carmel.

Cohen was instructed to purchase an “operational” phone and SIM card. “David,” who spoke Russian with a heavy Caucasian accent and used phone numbers with Russian and Portuguese area codes, directed him to photograph homes, the Baha’i Gardens and Haifa Bay. Later assignments included roads and infrastructure across Israel, such as Highway 4, Highway 40 from Beersheba to Mitzpe Ramon, the route from Kibbutz Samar to Eilat, the Port of Eilat and ships in the bay. Cohen also documented signage, power lines, facilities and the Hadera power plant.

The court noted that Cohen deleted footage of military bases after realizing its sensitivity, but ruled that the material he did provide could still have aided the enemy. Judges Erez Porat, Nitzan Silman and Rivka Eisenberg said Cohen “turned a blind eye” to multiple warning signs, including foreign phone numbers, unusual payment methods, warnings from friends and his inability to verify the firm’s legitimacy.

The judges emphasized that Cohen suspected early on that “David” may have been linked to Iran. They said harsher punishment was appropriate given the wartime context and a rise in social media recruitment cases, but took into account his clean prior record, expressions of remorse, financial motives and his refusal to complete one final assignment at the Eilat Port.

Cohen was sentenced retroactive to his arrest on May 27, 2025, and was also ordered to serve three years of probation. In court, he told judges: “I regret everything I did. I was wrong, and this is the biggest mistake I made in my life.”

The case highlights ongoing Israeli security concerns over foreign recruitment efforts targeting civilians amid the conflict with Iran and its proxies.