Haifa Man Charged as Iranian Spy; Allegedly Planned to Target Naftali Bennett and Offered to Be a Suicide Bomber

The State Prosecutor's Office today (Monday) filed an indictment in the Haifa District Court against Ami Gaidarov, 22, of Haifa, and three additional defendants, on serious security charges in a case involving espionage for Iran. According to the indictment, Gaidarov maintained contact with Iranian intelligence, carried out various assignments for them, and in return received about 100,000 shekels in cryptocurrency.

The indictment says Gaidarov initiated the connection with the Iranians after seeing an offer to carry out paid assignments. He then began communicating directly with a handler who identified himself by the username "Ben" via the Telegram app, and received instructions for various operations, including intelligence-gathering tasks.

In parallel, Gaidarov set up a "bomb lab" in two apartments in the same Haifa building. He first operated out of a third-floor apartment, then moved to another on the first floor after fearing he was being followed. According to the indictment, he produced the explosive TATP almost daily, sometimes in quantities of hundreds of grams, and at one point held roughly 10 kilograms of explosives.

Prosecutors allege some of the material was intended for attacks in Israel, including harming former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. It is further claimed the explosives were also meant for attacks in crowded areas, including bus stops. In one case, Gaidarov carried out a live test with a friend: the two placed an improvised device inside a plastic cup in an underground parking garage, ignited it, and filmed the blast, then fled the scene because of the force of the shockwave.

The indictment further states that Gaidarov transferred about 8 kilograms of the explosive to another person for safekeeping, but that person threw the bag with the explosives into a trash bin the next day. After losing a significant portion of the material, Gaidarov offered his Iranian handler to serve as a suicide bomber to prove his seriousness — but, according to the indictment, the handler refused.

It is also alleged that Gaidarov tried to hide evidence: he buried explosives and phones and destroyed a memory card that documented his activity. The three other defendants are charged with assisting him in purchasing equipment and in possessing the explosives.

According to the indictment, even after he was arrested last month, it emerged that during the war with Iran Gaidarov had continued his activity. During sirens and impacts in the Haifa area, he tried to reach strike sites to document the events.