Two Israeli Air Force Technicians Indicted for Espionage on Behalf of Iranian Intelligence
Israeli military prosecutors on April 23 filed espionage charges against two Israeli Air Force technicians, Asaf Shitrit and Sagi Haik, who served as mechanics and avionics specialists in the
The indictment reveals an Iranian operation that escalated from F-15 avionics collection to active leadership targeting. Per converging Israeli reporting, handlers directed one suspect to assassinate IAF commander Maj. Gen. Bar while separately tasking intelligence collection on Halevi and Ben-Gvir. The progression follows a recognizable boundary-testing pattern: handlers pivoted from low-risk technical photography to direct-action requests as the asset relationship matured. The assassination tasking may have been a handler compliance test rather than a genuine operational plan, which would narrow the damage to intelligence collection alone, but the leadership-targeting tasking is established regardless of handler intent. Both this case and the concurrent Van Dyke prosecution exploited financial leverage against cleared personnel rather than ideological alignment, suggesting a deliberate Iranian methodology targeting economic vulnerability in military ranks. The eight soldiers suspected of non-reporting indicate a permissive security culture at Tel Nof that likely enabled the operation to run longer than detection timelines would otherwise permit.