A transgender Israeli woman with a background in elite Israeli military intelligence is set to be deported from the United States following a conviction on felony kidnapping charges, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed this week.
ICE announced in a public statement Thursday that agents took Eliyahu Alon, identified by the agency as a “criminal illegal alien from Israel”, into custody during a targeted enforcement operation in Concord, New Hampshire. ICE referenced Alon by her previous given name, Avishay, a decision that comes amid Alon’s longstanding legal fight over gender recognition during her criminal proceedings.
According to ICE’s public disclosure, Alon’s criminal record includes three separate felony convictions: making criminal threats with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, and unlawful possession of controlled substances. Before relocating to the United States, Alon served in Unit 81, one of the Israeli Defense Forces’ most sensitive classified divisions, which develops cutting-edge technology for special operations run by Israeli military intelligence. Following her military service, Alon transitioned gender and went on to hold senior engineering positions at major U.S. tech giants Amazon and Microsoft, court records and legal representatives confirmed to The Jerusalem Post.
Alon’s offense stemmed from a 2024 incident: she was arrested in September that year for abducting a male acquaintance whom she suspected had spiked her water bottle with GHB, the so-called “date rape drug” linked to sexual assault. Court indictment documents show that the plan to abduct and interrogate the man originated with a friend of Alon’s, Brian Levy, who pushed Alon to confront the suspect. When law enforcement arrived at Alon’s Dover, New Hampshire, residence to investigate a report of a suspicious vehicle parked outside, they inadvertently uncovered the kidnapping: officers heard the victim screaming for help from inside the home. At the time of the raid, Alon had two loaded handguns on the property, one of which was fitted with an illegal silencer, and she had pointed one of the weapons at the victim during his detention, the indictment confirms.
Alon was tried and sentenced as a male despite her public gender identity as a woman, receiving a prison sentence of 2 to 6 years in state custody in early July. Following her sentencing, Alon launched a legal challenge to her placement in a male correctional facility, requesting access to gender-affirming medical care and a transfer to a women’s prison. Instead of ruling on her correctional placement appeal, New Hampshire authorities transferred Alon to federal immigration custody on August 20 to begin deportation proceedings, clearing the way for her removal from the U.S. once her sentence concludes.