Vizhnitz Yeshiva Student Recruited by Iran in Bizarre Spy Plot Fuelled by Debt and Telegram Lies

In June 2024, Elimelech Stern, a 22-year-old Vizhnitz Hasid from Beit Shemesh, was arrested by Israel’s Shin Bet for allegedly spying for Iran, marking one of the most unusual espionage cases in the nation’s history. Struggling with 70,000 shekels ($19,800) in debt from poor financial choices, Stern, a yeshiva student training to become a sofer, bought a smartphone, prohibited in his ultra-Orthodox community, to pursue cryptocurrency investments. His venture into Telegram investment groups led to a 5,000-shekel scam and contact with “Anna Elena,” who posed as a Canadian activist but was an Iranian intelligence operative.

“Anna” initially paid Stern $20 per poster to distribute 150 flyers showing a bloodied hand with the message: “History will write that children were murdered. Let's stand on the right side of history.” Misunderstanding the English text, Stern was told it was for child safety, spending 150 shekels to print them in Beit Shemesh and paying someone in Beitar Illit 1,800 shekels to post them in Tel Aviv, earning $50 in cryptocurrency. The tasks soon escalated, with “Anna” asking him to retrieve a buried phone in Haifa, commit vandalism, and set a forest ablaze for $7,000. She later offered $75,000 to shoot someone, which Stern declined, saying, “That’s not for me.”

Though suspecting “Anna” was hostile, Stern admitted to Shin Bet he continued for financial gain, feeling “neutral and less committed” to Israel. His arrest shocked investigators, who took him to retrieve his tefillin from the Vizhnitz beis medrash, where he thanked them for their respect. Stern now faces charges of contacting a foreign agent, with his lawyer arguing his confessions were coerced.

The case exposes Iran’s strategy of targeting vulnerable Israelis, particularly in insular ultra-Orthodox communities, through social media deception, exploiting financial desperation to advance hostile agendas.