Cleaner ‘offered to spy’ on Israeli defence minister
AS ISRAEL’S defence minister, he has wrestled with the security challenges of the Middle East.
But Benny Gantz was facing a threat much closer to home yesterday, as it emerged that his cleaner had been charged with attempting to spy for Iran.
The Shin Bet security service said it had arrested the cleaner on suspicion of offering to spy on Mr Gantz for hackers linked to Tehran.
Omri Goren was arrested shortly after he approached an Iran-linked hacking group claiming he had access to the defence minister’s home, Shin Bet officials said.
“In order to prove his ability and sincerity, Omri took photographs of a number of objects in different parts of the minister’s house, which he sent to the figure, including pictures of the minister’s computer,” Shin Bet said.
Mr Goren, who allegedly offered to install spyware on Mr Gantz’s computer, has been charged with espionage and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
He is also alleged to have photographed the minister’s property tax statements, a shredder, and some of his electronic devices. Shin Bet has insisted the man was arrested before he did any harm, but the incident raises questions about the screening of employees working close to Israeli officials.
“It should be stressed that in light of operational security protocols in the minister’s house, Omri was not exposed to classified materials and therefore no such documents were transferred to the figures with whom he was in contact,” Shin Bet said.
According to Israeli media, Mr Goren had several previous convictions including bank robbery and had spent four spells in prison.
Shin Bet said it had launched a review of employee screening processes “with the goal of limiting the possibility of cases like this repeating themselves in the future”.
Mr Goren’s lawyer told The Times of Israel his client denies espionage.