Two Israeli intelligence agents and two Egyptians were charged Tuesday with conspiring to spy for Israel, the New York Times reports. According to a statement released by the Egyptian public prosecutor’s office, “The public prosecutor ordered Ramzy Mohamed, Sahar Ibrahim, Samuel Ben Zeev and David Wisemen – two officers in the Israeli Mossad – to be sent to a Cairo criminal court for spying for the interests of the state of Israel.”
The two Egyptian men, who have been arrested and are in jail pending investigation, have been accused of providing the Mossad agents with information about Egypt “in exchange for money and gifts and sex,” Reuters reports. Ben Zeev and Wisemen’s whereabouts are unknown.
Egypt’s chief prosecutor dates the conspiracy plot back to 2009, when one of the Egyptians began spying for Israel in exchange for large sums of money while in Italy. According to the prosecutor’s statement, Mohamed then recruited Sahar Ibrahim, a magazine journalist, and together they compiled reports about Egyptian military movements and public opinion in return for $125,000 and other gifts. The two have reportedly admitted that they “committed the crime of spying for Israel.” Israel hasn’t make a statement about the arrests.
Lily Wilf is an editorial intern at Tablet.