Mai Masaru, a 29-year-old Israeli from Taibeh, was sentenced today (Thursday) to 30 months in prison after taking security photos and passing the photos to an Hezbollah operative.. The sentence was handed down in the Lod District Court, after she admitted and was convicted of offenses of contact with a foreign agent and passing information to the enemy.
According to the amended indictment, which was filed as part of a plea bargain by Adv. Shahaf Kleinman-Shimoni, the defendant complied with a request from a Hezbollah operative in Lebanon.
The defendant took and transferred 12 different photographs, including military vehicles, the system fence in the Rosh Hanikra area, the Hatzerim base, the Iron Dome system, Stella Maris, the Haifa port and the West Erez area. The indictment alleges that the defendant took the photos while actively working to obtain them, including while traveling to distant places and while wearing binoculars.
The appeal did not end with photographs alone. On one occasion, the agent turned to the defendant and asked her to attend a lecture by journalist Yossi Melman on the subject of Hezbollah and Israel. In a lecture The agent referred through it the question “Is there a chance for a war between Hezbollah and Israel?”, When Masaru recorded the question and the answer and sent it to the agent.
Another case occurred after a military incident involving Hezbollah on the northern border, at which the defendant transferred real-time photographs of Rambam Hospital at the agent’s request.
According to the probation service survey, the defendant has no criminal record, confessed to it and took only partial responsibility for her actions. According to her, at first she thought she was an Israeli, because he addressed her in the Hebrew language. He later approached her as a Lebanese journalist and asked for her help in obtaining information and photos for the purpose of preparing an article on Israel-Lebanon relations. His remarks did not arouse her suspicion because she was not involved in political life and was unaware of the security situation. She claims that when his requests aroused her suspicion, she severed ties with him. Defendant explained that she acted out of a lack of judgment, alongside her tendency to help others, and denied involvement in political activity and financial gain. In summary, the service was under the impression that the defendant tends to underestimate the seriousness of her actions and places the responsibility on external parties..
In the verdict, the court noted that “although it can be considered that the photographs and information that the defendant transferred to the Hezbollah operative are not very valuable, gathering information from various sources and cross-referencing it to obtain an up-to-date picture of what is happening in the country and its military facilities is very serious.” The verdict further stated, “We considered that the time elapsed from about two years from the time the offenses were committed and that the defendant has been in detention for about a year and nine months.
Were we wrong? Fixed! If you found an error in the article, we’ll be happy for you to share it with us