Over a month after the Turkish Intelligence Organization foiled an attempt by Israel's Mossad to kidnap a Palestinian engineer involved in breaching the "Iron Dome" system in 2015 and 2016, Ankara has announced the arrest of over forty individuals successfully recruited by Israeli intelligence. These individuals are accused of engaging in espionage, surveillance, and the kidnapping of Palestinian activists residing in Turkey and their families. This significant blow since the beginnings of the process to re-normalize relations between the two countries at the end of 2022 sends important messages from Ankara to Tel Aviv.
The announcement of the network's arrest and the successful dismantling carries with it Turkish messages at a crucial time, but before delving into them, let's review the intelligence report regarding the network and highlight how it functioned.
Intelligence Report
Amid ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza and less than a month after Ronen Bar, the head of Israel's internal security service Shin Bet, threatened to target Hamas leaders everywhere, including Turkey, the Turkish intelligence agency, MIT – in coordination with the police intelligence – carried out simultaneous operations in 8 provinces, primarily in Istanbul, to arrest individuals working for Mossad.
The intelligence report published in the Turkish media contains significant details on how the network members, belonging to non-Turkish nationalities not yet disclosed, were recruited, funded, and met with periodically.
Recruitment
The report states that Mossad recruited individuals through job advertisements posted on social media or various chat groups, or by placing specific links. Those who responded to these ads would subsequently be contacted, paving the way for Mossad to communicate with them after completing their recruitment using Telegram and WhatsApp applications. These agents were then required to recruit others to collect the needed information about Palestinians living in Turkey and their families.
Funding
According to the report, Mossad sent money to network members using one of the following methods: either in person outside Turkey, and if the amount was significant, Mossad provided bags with secret compartments to prevent the discovery of money during X-ray screenings; or money was delivered via intermediaries or using cryptocurrencies to prevent Turkish security from detecting the network.
Training
The report confirms that Mossad met with its agents outside Turkey to avoid detection by Turkish security forces. Network agents were received in high-standard hotels, invited to luxurious restaurants, and all these movements were scheduled as part of special tourism trips and programs.
During these trips, the agents were subjected to lie detector tests, followed by Mossad experts training them in secret communication, delivering them secret communication systems, including secure communication and encryption training.
Task Assignment
The report further indicates that the main tasks of these recruits included video and photography work, installing GPS devices in targets' vehicles, assaulting and extorting targets, as well as propaganda activities, spreading false news on the web, and creating databases of foreigners residing in Turkey, not limited to the Palestinian community.
Other assignments included smuggling individuals and goods across the border from Iran and Iraq into Turkey, providing safe houses within Turkey, and preparing ambulances for use when needed.
Ankara's Messages
Following the arrest of network members, the Turkish intelligence report confirms that the agents had been under surveillance for a considerable time. Still, Israeli threats to target Hamas leaders abroad expedited the public revelation of the network.
Turkey intended to send a pragmatic message to the Israeli side, distancing itself from settling scores on its soil, as a senior Turkish intelligence official told Middle East Eye. Consistent with previous warnings that any attempt to operate illegally in Turkey would have severe consequences, all parties involved are strongly encouraged not to engage in similar activities in the future.
Turkey also wants to remind Israel that the security and military agreements forged between the two sides do not permit targeting anyone on its territory, especially Palestinians.
In the agreements concluded at the end of 2022 as part of the re-normalization of relations, there was a security memorandum allowing Shin Bet to carry out activities to protect the Israeli embassy and consulate, along with increased cooperation in anti-terrorism and anti-espionage fields. However, Mossad had pledged not to carry out assassinations against Palestinians on Turkish territory.
Despite this, Israeli intelligence activities seemed to suggest the opposite. Last December, the Istanbul public prosecutor announced an indictment against 17 individuals for working for Mossad, where the Turkish intelligence report on the case indicated that the accused had planned crimes such as murder, kidnapping, threats, and extortion in Turkey using confidential data obtained from public institutions.
With Operation "Al-Aqsa Surge," the Israeli decision to resume assassinations outside occupied Palestine prompted Erdogan to warn Tel Aviv against such actions, leading Turkish security to take concrete measures, demonstrating that their actions would extend beyond verbal warnings to targeting Mossad collaborators.
Ankara's messages might not stop at Tel Aviv alone but might also be addressed to its neighbor, Iran. Iran was implicated in an attempt to assassinate Israelis in Turkey before Turkish security managed to apprehend those responsible. Ankara had also previously accused Iranian officials of assassinating opponents of the Iranian regime on its soil, the most recent being the arrest of Mohammed Reza Naserzadeh, an employee of the Iranian consulate, nearly three years ago, suspected of involvement in the assassination of the opponent Masoud Molavi in Istanbul in 2019.
As the conflict between Tehran and Tel Aviv could escalate in the shadow of "Al-Aqsa Surge," Turkey is taking steps to prevent its territory from being used as a battleground for settling scores.
Ironically, on the evening that Turkey announced the spy network, Israel assassinated Saleh Al-Arouri, the deputy head of Hamas's political bureau, and others in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut, proving Ankara's point that preemptive security strikes are a pressing necessity that should not be taken lightly.
