The State Attorney's Office filed an indictment against two brothers from the Judean Foothills for conducting espionage on behalf of Iranian agents, Walla announced on Tuesday.
The indictment, filed several weeks ago, was subject to a press embargo due to the nature of the investigation.
The two brothers, from Beitar Illit and Beit Shemesh, respectively, were accused of serious security offenses of contact with a foreign agent and passing information to the enemy.
They received over NIS 100,000 from Iranian agents in exchange for information provided, much of which was fabricated.
The indictment describes how the main defendant deceived his Iranian handler by creating a false impression and providing information obtained through the use of Artificial Intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini.
The defendant then passed on information about a future Israeli-American attack in Iran, and a list of strategic locations in Iran found using AI and Google Maps.
The defendant found personal details of an Iranian citizen and his wife on Telegram, passing them to the handler, along with a forged document he created, which implicated the "Iranian" with cooperating with Israel during strikes targeting senior Iranian regime officials during Operation Rising Lion in June, according to the indictment.
Defendant knew it was Iranian agent, decided to trick him
It also states that the connection was made in August when the agent contacted the defendant via Telegram, asking if he was interested in making money. The defendant, suspecting that the handler was an Iranian agent, responded positively, provided a fake name, and told the handler that he was a computer science student who was about to enlist in the IDF Intelligence Directorate's Unit 8200, responsible for Signal Intelligence and analysis of chatter.
The defendant later fabricated a story about having a friend in the unit, using the name of an actual person whose identity card and driver's license the defendant found online. He created a false impression with the agent by presenting screenshots of a supposed conversation that he had with the Unit 8200 soldier in which he tried to convince him to cooperate with the Iranian handler.
The defendant then created a Telegram group where the agent, the defendant, and "soldier," who was actually the defendant as well, were members. The agent then started chatting with the "soldier" and asked to send his ID card for verification.
The defendant found a video of an unspecified Israeli citizen, as well as their driving license, and sent it to the agent. However, the agent was not satisfied with this and insisted on receiving a photograph of the "soldier" with an ID document, eventually agreeing to accept a picture of them making an "ok" hand gesture.
The defendant created this image using AI software, sending it to the agent, the indictment states. Later, the agent asked for a document proving that the "soldier" really served in Unit 8200, causing the defendant to send a forged document he found online, edited with the details of the "soldier."
Israel's role in Iran's Raisi's helicopter crash questioned
The indictment also revealed that after then-Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash, the agent asked the defendant if Israel was involved in the incident. The defendant said yes, sending a document created with ChatGPT, referencing Israel's involvement.
When the agent later sought to verify the credibility of the "soldier," the defendant used ChatGPT to answer several questions about Unit 8200 and the "soldier's" supposed role within the unit. He compiled details into a password-protected PDF file, sending it to the agent.
In October, the defendant learned from his friend in Unit 8200 that part of his role was mapping different sites, the indictment noted. As a result of this, the defendant claimed that the "soldier" belonged to the mapping department of the unit, and told the agent that Unit 8200 used an advanced system based on AI and satellite assistance.
The agent later asked the defendant for information about the coordinates mapped by the unit, and the defendant found various coordinates across Iran using Google Maps. He created a PDF document, wrote coordinates and targets, including an airport in Tehran, a building with a senior regime official's residence, and a commercial factory suspected of being a weapons depot, sending this "document" to the agent.
In early January, amid the widespread anti-regime protests across Iran, the agent contacted the defendant, asking again about mapped sites, the indictment stated.
The defendant used Gemini to ask about targets for a US strike on Iran, and responses, including various pro-regime symbolic sites, were sent to the agent, later alerting the agent to an alleged heightened security alert at the Unit 8200 base.
During his interactions with the agent, the defendant also passed on fabricated information about an Iranian citizen, whose details had been found on Telegram, and was used to allege collaboration with Israel in assisting the assassination of senior Iranian regime officials.
Using Grok, the defendant created a full narrative about the Iranian citizen's supposed involvement, stating that he could operate a drone and ride a motorcycle, and was recruited by "Israeli handlers" via a social media network.
The citizen was arrested, interrogated, and cleared of suspicion.
The defendant also learned from a military acquaintance studying with him at university that there was an expected development in Iran on January 7, the indictment mentions. The defendant informed the Iranian agent about this.
Later, the defendant overheard a conversation between this military acquaintance and a senior military official in which one of the parties mentioned a decision to target Iranian infrastructure.
The defendant inferred that this conversation was regarding Iran and updated the agent, saying, "We received a date." Later in the conversation, the defendant also detailed what Israel's and the US's respective roles would be in an attack, gathering the information from Telegram channels.
Lawyer: This is 'an outrageous indictment'
"The indictment is outrageous," the defendant's lawyer said.
"As seen in the indictment materials, these are two patriotic Zionist brothers who sought to trick the Iranians. The Jewish mind is known for inventing patents, and as loyal sons of the start-up nation, they sold fabricated information to the Iranians using ChatGPT in exchange for money," the lawyer continued.
"Their intention was to harm and deceive the Iranian enemy, and they succeeded in doing so. Instead of filing an indictment in this unnecessary case, the state should award them the Israel Prize for their contribution to the nation's security," the lawyer asserted.
