Yitzhak Bergil
A man from the anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox Natorei Karta
sect who was charged with attempting to pass sensitive information about Israel
to Iran in August will serve four-and-a-half years in prison, according to the
terms of a plea bargain approved by the Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday.
Yitzhak Bergil, 47, who was arrested by the Shin Bet and
Israel Police in July, reached the plea deal with the State Attorney's Office
after confessing to the charges against him.
The Jerusalem State Attorney’s Office filed the indictment
in August with the district court on charges of intent to commit treason and
contacting a foreign agent.
The Jerusalem Post has learned that the classification of spying
for which Bergil was charged is considered
relatively low on the spectrum. The sentence of four-and-a-half years
was equal to, or more severe than the punishment meted out for similar offenses
in the past.
At an unknown date, Bergil decided to make contact with the
Iranian government in order to collect intelligence on Israel and send it to
them, the indictment alleges.
To do this, he went online to check where he could approach
an Iranian embassy, said the indictment.
On January 16, 2011, he flew to Berlin, and two days later
approached the embassy there to tell the Iranians that he was an Israeli and
wanted to speak to them. At the time he was clothed in his regular haredi
dress, including black and white clothes, and tzizit ritual fringes.
He was brought to Iranian representatives, including a man
who introduced himself as Hagi Baba and two others, said the indictment.
He told Baba that he was against the Jewish state, wanted
the state to be taken over by non-Jews, was ready to provide them intelligence
and was even ready to “kill a Zionist,” if necessary, according to the
indictment.
He baited the Iranians, asking them why they continued to
fail to prevent sabotage and attacks by Israel within the Islamic Republic,
said the indictment.
The Iranians responded with annoyance, noted the indictment,
saying that he should be embarrassed to insult them when he was seeking asylum.
Bergil retorted that he was not seeking asylum, but wanted
to help with spying, said the indictment.
He returned to Israel on January 20, 2011.
He kept up his connection with the Iranian officials by
email, using Internet cafes, and via telephone calls made from public phones
near his place of residence in Jerusalem, the Shin Bet and the indictment said.
The Shin Bet said that under questioning, the man confessed
that he worked “out of a hatred for the State of Israel and in exchange for
financial compensation.”
One place where he checked his email account for messages
from the Iranians was the Vital Hotel at 141 Jaffa Road in the capital, said
the indictment. Two spots where he used public telephone calls to contact the
Iranians were on Straus Street and Kanfei Nesharim Street in the city.
A fringe ultra-Orthodox sect established in Jerusalem in
1938, Natorei Karta (Aramaic for “Guardians of the City”) believes Israel can
be reestablished only after the coming of the Messiah. The group therefore
rejects Zionism and opposes the existence of the state.
Members of the sect in Israel and the US are known to burn
the Israeli flag and have sent representatives to attend conferences in Iran in
the past.
Last year, Arabic media reported that members of the sect
met with Hezbollah officials in Beirut.
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