Israel Minister's Cleaner Sentenced for Attempting to Spy for Iran-Linked Hackers

A man types on a computer keyboard in Warsaw in this February 28, 2013 illustration file picture. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
A man types on a computer keyboard in Warsaw in this February 28, 2013 illustration file picture. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
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Israel Minister's Cleaner Sentenced for Attempting to Spy for Iran-Linked Hackers

A man types on a computer keyboard in Warsaw in this February 28, 2013 illustration file picture. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
A man types on a computer keyboard in Warsaw in this February 28, 2013 illustration file picture. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

A man employed as a cleaner in Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz's home was sentenced to three years' prison for attempting to spy for Iran-linked hackers, the justice ministry said Tuesday.

Omri Goren Gorochovsky, a 38-year-old resident of the central city of Lod, had been employed along with his partner as a cleaner in Gantz's home in Rosh Haayin outside Tel Aviv.

He was arrested in November last year and charged with attempting to spy for the Black Shadow group after offering to pass information from Gantz's home to the hackers.

On Tuesday, the justice ministry said Gorochovsky had reached a plea deal in which "he confessed to an attempt to pass on information to an enemy," with the court sentencing him to "three years' prison".

The justice ministry statement described Black Shadow as "a hacker group affiliated with Iran".

The Shin Bet domestic security agency said last year that Gorochovsky never gained access to "classified materials" and therefore did not successfully share state secrets, adding that Gorochovsky was arrested just days after he reached out to Black Shadow.

An arrest warrant for Gorochovsky had indicated he had an extensive criminal history, including five convictions and prison time served for various offences including bank robbery, raising questions about how he was hired to work in the home of one of Israel's top security officials.

Black Shadow has been blamed for multiple attacks on Israel's internet infrastructure, AFP reported.

The group's hacks are seen as part of a years-long covert war between Israel and Iran, including physical attacks on ships and offensive cyber moves online.

In October last year, Black Shadow claimed a cyberattack targeting an Israeli internet service provider that attracted widespread media attention.



G7 Urges Iran to Resume Diplomacy over Nuclear Program

FILE PHOTO: Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly speaks during the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada March 13, 2025. SAUL LOEB/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly speaks during the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada March 13, 2025. SAUL LOEB/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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G7 Urges Iran to Resume Diplomacy over Nuclear Program

FILE PHOTO: Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly speaks during the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada March 13, 2025. SAUL LOEB/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly speaks during the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada March 13, 2025. SAUL LOEB/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Foreign ministers of leading Western democracies warned on Thursday of the threat from Iran's growing use of arbitrary detention and foreign assassination attempts as a tool of coercion, a final draft statement seen by Reuters showed.

The G7 nations, comprising Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, said in a statement that Tehran was a principle source of instability in the Middle East and urged it to resume diplomacy over its nuclear program.

Representatives of China, Russia and Iran called Friday for an end to US sanctions on Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program and a restart to multinational talks on the issue.

The three countries' meeting was the latest attempt to broach the matter and come after US President Donald Trump wrote to Iran’s supreme leader in an attempt to jumpstart talks.

The letter, which hasn’t been published, was offered as Trump levied new sanctions on Iran as part of his “maximum pressure” campaign that holds out the possibility of military action while emphasizing he still believed a new deal could be reached.