Naftali Bennett Says Israel Smuggled Starlink Receptors Into Iran To Aid Anti-Government Protesters

Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett said at the JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem that Israel initiated a "process of acquiring and smuggling into Iran tens of thousands of Starlink receptors" to keep internet and social networks running for anti-government protesters.

Bennett, who served as prime minister from 2021 to 2022, said the plan was not fully pursued after he left office and criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for failing to follow through.

Al Jazeera

The claims were tied to Starlink, which is owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX and provides satellite internet connections, while the service is described in the reports as not licensed to operate in Iran.

Bennett said the devices were intended to enable protesters to coordinate and ultimately topple the Iranian government, but he said "Unfortunately, the current incompetent Israeli government stopped doing that."

The Independent reported that Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to questions on Bennett’s remarks and that SpaceX was not available for comment outside US business hours.

Bennett told the summit that when the protest happened, "that infrastructure was not there," framing the failure as a lack of continuity for protesters during internet restrictions.

CTech

Iran International reported that at least eight Iranian banks suffered widespread service disruptions on Tuesday, leaving customers unable to access many electronic and card-based services.

Iran International said the Informatics Services Corporation later pointed to cyberattacks as the cause and that it "has temporarily taken card-based services offline to prevent any unauthorized access and safeguard customers’ data and assets," while Meysam Zohourian warned restoration could take up to two weeks.

NDTV Profit | Asian said Iran’s Parliament has reviewed a draft anti-espionage bill that would impose a penalty for using or owning unapproved satellite internet equipment, including Starlink.

“Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett acknowledged on Tuesday that Israel had smuggled Starlink internet receivers into Iran to help anti-government protesters, criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for failing to follow through on the plans”

Haaretz

The same report said the draft stipulated that using Starlink or other unlicensed satellite internet services for personal use would result in prison sentences ranging from six months to two years, and it established the death penalty for those determined to have acted against the state or engaged in espionage using such technologies.

Bennett also said Israel and other Middle East states must "join forces to repel and ultimately topple" Iran's leadership, declaring, "It's a rotten, old, disconnected, incompetent regime, and it will fall as the Soviet Union fell."

In parallel, Iran International described how the banking disruptions followed earlier outages on June 13 that affected mobile banking, internet banking, automated teller machines, point-of-sale terminals and other card services, with the Coordination Council of Banks attributing that earlier outage to a "limited cyberattack" targeting communications infrastructure shared by the four lenders.