Even though Israel is a country full of minority groups and it constantly absorbs new people and sports an ethnically diverse population, it is viewed as an almost impenetrable intelligence target. To date, no foreign espionage group has ever managed to recruit a high-level Israeli figure from the ranks of the governmental elite. Israeli society is very cohesive, and the fact that the country is surrounded by hostile states and still subject to an ongoing existential threat turns any kind of treason against it into an especially treacherous option.
Anti-Israel espionage entities occasionally try to recruit a high-quality agent from a minority group, or someone in the context of an academic conference, but with little success. Thus, the fact that Gonen Segev, a former energy and infrastructure minister and member of Israel’s Security Cabinet (1995-1996), allegedly served as an Iranian agent since May 2012 constitutes a harsh slap in Israel’s face. However, no significant damage apparently was accomplished through this prestigious recruitment because Segev had been removed from Israel’s hubs of information and decision-making for more than two decades. “It is still a slap in the face,” a high-placed Israeli intelligence source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “but except for some aches and pains, no damage was done. No teeth were broken, no hemorrhage; in a few minutes, the pain will dissipate, too.”
