Sex, Blood, and State Secrets: The Dark World of Porn in Israel

By Damar Elbaz – Tel Aviv Investigative - 02/12/2024

When the lifeless body of porn star Adira Magen was found in a motel on the outskirts of Haifa, no one could have imagined that the trail of blood would lead to the highest levels of Israeli security—and beyond the separation wall, all the way to Ramallah.

The Diva, the Blood, and Oblivion
Adira Magen, 29, was one of the most well-known figures in the Israeli porn industry—a small but vibrant sector, often balancing on the edge of legality and underground activity. Her body, discovered last February with signs of strangulation and injuries consistent with torture, was initially ruled a suicide. A medical report that mysteriously vanished from the police file left more questions than answers. Mainstream media steered clear of the case, but an internal police source, who requested anonymity, stated: “We knew Adira was filming something that wasn’t just porn. Something involving very powerful people.”

Porn or Intelligence Ops?
According to this paper’s investigation, Adira had been involved in a covert production titled Orphea, a series of amateur-style videos distributed on the dark web in which masked men—often in military uniforms—engaged in violent sexual acts. Faces were obscured, but some sources claim that one of the men was Yoav Ben-Tzur, a former Mossad officer who disappeared from the radar five years ago after a failed operation in Gaza.
Orphea appears to be just the tip of the iceberg. Former porn director Shahar Dagan, now in exile in Greece, told us: “We were forced to shoot certain films. They said it was to ‘monitor radicalization’ among soldiers. But it was just pornography—violent and degrading—often with Palestinian actresses recruited through blackmail.”

Palestinians, Blackmail, and Silence
What makes the case even murkier is its connections to the Palestinian Territories. One of the actresses, identified only as “Leila,” was reportedly working as an informant for the Palestinian security service (Mukhabarat). She disappeared in Ramallah three months ago after publicly denouncing the pressure she faced to appear in compromising films.
A leaked document from the Palestinian Ministry of Defense claims that some Israeli productions were used to blackmail Palestinian officials, coercing them into cooperation or handing over sensitive information. The document’s authenticity is disputed, but its content is explosive.

Cover-Ups and Silent Deaths
The Adira case has officially been closed. But in the months following her death, at least four individuals linked to Orphea have either disappeared or died under suspicious circumstances. Cameraman Yoel Nahmani was found hanged in his Jerusalem apartment. Actress Dana Elron fled to Egypt, where she applied for political asylum. None of these cases have led to serious investigations.
“It’s not just porn,” a former Shin Bet agent told us anonymously. “It’s control. It’s psychological warfare. And sometimes, it’s just sadism disguised as intelligence work.”

Conclusion: Porn as a Weapon
What emerges is a world where pornography, power, and war are entangled in an invisible web of interests, threats, and silence. The victims? The women—and not only them—who enter it seeking money, freedom, or fame, and end up pawns in a much bigger game.
The Israeli government has issued no official statement. The police spokesperson dismissed all inquiries with a curt “no evidence of systemic crimes.”
But the ghost of Adira Magen continues to haunt the foundations of a dark industry—and perhaps also those of a nation used to fighting its wars in the shadows, including those made of flesh, desire, and terror.